Hilton Als Has Won the Pulitzer Prize For Criticism; Full Winners List
For a centenarian, the Pulitzer Prize appears to be as spry as ever.
Now in its 101st year, the prestigious prize recognized writers, artists, and musicians of nearly every bent — from breaking news and cartooning, to fiction and drama. At a New York City ceremony Monday, Pulitzer Prize Administrator Mike Pride announced the 21 winners of the 2017 award.
Hilton Als. DOMINIQUE NABOKOV/COURTESY THE WINDHAM-CAMPBELL PRIZES
The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced this afternoon, and among those honored was Hilton Als, the theater critic for The New Yorker, who captured the prize for criticism. In addition to writing his regular columns for The New Yorker, Als is an author, photographer, curator, and overall cultural force.
“With his deep knowledge of the history of performance—not only in theatre but in dance, music, and visual art—he not only shows us how to view a production but how to place its director, its author, and its performers in the ongoing continuum of dramatic art,” the magazine said in a short post that went up following the announcement. “His reviews are not simply reviews; they are provocative contributions to the discourse on theatre, race, class, sexuality, and identity in America.”
For decades, Als has been a highly visible public intellectual. Recently, he curated and wrote the catalogue for “Alice Neel, Uptown,” which is on view at David Zwirner’s West 19th Street gallery until April 22 (and is highly recommended). Als talked about the show with Interview magazine here. He is a frequent speaker and moderator on New York’s lecture circuit—here’s an ARTnews recap of his talk on Diane Arbus at the New Museum in September 2015.
In addition to his theater criticism, Als writes art criticism for a variety of publications. A piece from July 2016 issue of The New York Review of Books surveyed Agnes Martin‘s retrospective at the Guggenheim in New York and a biography of the artist. His Instagram is also a joy—here’s a fun picture of Wallace Shawn.
Als’s award marks the first time a theater critic has won the award for criticism since 1978. Last year, the award went to Emily Nussbaum, television critic at The New Yorker.
Below, you can find a list of this year's winners, linked to their winning works.
New York Daily News and ProPublica
For uncovering, primarily through the work of reporter Sarah Ryley, widespread abuse of eviction rules by the police to oust hundreds of people, most of them poor minorities.
Staff of East Bay Times, Oakland, CA
For relentless coverage of the “Ghost Ship” fire, which killed 36 people at a warehouse party, and for reporting after the tragedy that exposed the city’s failure to take actions that might have prevented it.
Investigative Reporting
Eric Eyre of Charleston Gazette-Mail, Charleston, WV
For courageous reporting, performed in the face of powerful opposition, to expose the flood of opioids flowing into depressed West Virginia counties with the highest overdose death rates in the country.
Explanatory Reporting
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy and Miami Herald
For the Panama Papers, a series of stories using a collaboration of more than 300 reporters on six continents to expose the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens. (Moved by the Board from the International Reporting category, where it was entered.)
The Salt Lake Tribune Staff
For a string of vivid reports revealing the perverse, punitive and cruel treatment given to sexual assault victims at Brigham Young University, one of Utah’s most powerful institutions.
David A. Fahrenthold of The Washington Post
For persistent reporting that created a model for transparent journalism in political campaign coverage while casting doubt on Donald Trump’s assertions of generosity toward charities.
The New York Times Staff
For agenda-setting reporting on Vladimir Putin’s efforts to project Russia’s power abroad, revealing techniques that included assassination, online harassment and the planting of incriminating evidence on opponents.
C. J. Chivers of The New York Times
For showing, through an artful accumulation of fact and detail, that a Marine’s postwar descent into violence reflected neither the actions of a simple criminal nor a stereotypical case of PTSD.
Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal
For rising to the moment with beautifully rendered columns that connected readers to the shared virtues of Americans during one of the nation’s most divisive political campaigns.
Hilton Als of The New Yorker
For bold and original reviews that strove to put stage dramas within a real-world cultural context, particularly the shifting landscape of gender, sexuality and race.
Art Cullen of The Storm Lake Times, Storm Lake, IA
For editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa.
Jim Morin of Miami Herald
For editorial cartoons that delivered sharp perspectives through flawless artistry, biting prose and crisp wit.
Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer
For powerful storytelling through images published in The New York Times showing the callous disregard for human life in the Philippines brought about by a government assault on drug dealers and users. (Moved into this category from Feature Photography by the nominating jury.)
E. Jason Wambsgans of Chicago Tribune
For a superb portrayal of a 10-year-old boy and his mother striving to put the boy’s life back together after he survived a shooting in Chicago.
LETTERS, DRAMA & MUSIC
- Fiction: The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead.
- Drama: Sweat, by Lynn Nottage.
- History: Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy, by Heather Ann Thompson.
- Biography or Autobiography: The Return, by Hisham Matar.
- Poetry: Olio, by Tyehimba Jess.
- General Nonfiction: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond.
- Music: Angel's Bone, by Du Yun.
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