Coverage of the wars in Gaza and Sudan, and the attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump, dominated the Pulitzer Prizes announced on Monday, May 5, at Columbia University in New York. Considered one of the most prestigious awards in US journalism, the Pulitzers also recognize literature, drama and music.
The core issues of the 2024 US presidential campaign took center stage at the awards, which recognized coverage of Trump and his bloodied ear after a July 13 assassination attempt, as well as the loss of abortion rights for women in the United States. The Washington Post staff won in the category of breaking news reporting for the paper's "urgent and illuminating" coverage of the gunshot that wounded Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.
The prize for public service reporting went to ProPublica's reporting on the deterioration of US women's access to abortion and reproductive health care, which profiled pregnant women who died after doctors delayed urgently needed care for fear of violating "vague" rules in "states with strict abortion laws," the committee wrote. In September, ProPublica reported on the 2022 death of 28-year-old Amber Thurman in a Georgia hospital, attributing it to a lack of care under the state's restrictive abortion laws. Her death was later discussed by presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who blamed the rollback of women's rights on the Supreme Court and its conservative majority.
Reuters news agency won in the investigative journalism category for its "boldly reported expose" of lax fentanyl regulation in the US and abroad. Images from the assassination attempt against Trump made headlines worldwide, and a New York Times photographer won a breaking news photography Pulitzer for an image where the bullet could be seen flying toward Trump's head at the campaign event.
In fiction, Percival Everett's James was awarded for its "accomplished reconsideration of 'Huckleberry Finn' that gives agency to Jim to illustrate the absurdity of racial supremacy," the committee wrote.
The Pulitzer for best international reporting was awarded to New York Times journalist Declan Walsh for coverage of the bloody conflict in Sudan, the illicit gold trade and regional negotiations at the heart of local clashes.
The Pulitzer Prizes are overseen by Columbia University, which was the site of many pro-Palestinian demonstrations and subsequent crackdowns. It is currently embroiled in controversy following the arrest of foreign students who participated in demonstrations against the war in Gaza and are facing threats of deportation and expulsion from the US.
The Pulitzer committee awarded Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet from Gaza, in the "commentary" category for essays published in The New Yorker magazine. The committee praised his "essays on the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience of more than a year and a half of war with Israel."
In a post to social media, Abu Toha announced the award and posted: "Let it bring hope. Let it be a tale," quoting the poem of Palestinian author Refaat Alareer, who was killed in December 2023 by an Israeli strike on Gaza.