History of the Pulitzer Prize

An Olympic Gold Medal. The Academy Awards. The Grammys. These awards represent reaching the pinnacle of a career in a chosen arena; ultimate success. Being awarded these trophies warrant the recipients national recognition and seals their triumphs in history forever. Nearly every profession offers such awards as a motivation, something to work towards and way of recognizing excellence. In the world of writing, this award is the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer Prize originated in 1917 by Joseph Pulitzer. In his will, he left two million dollars to Columbia University to create a school of journalism. Pulitzer was a proud, self-made man, but wanted to make it easier for future journalists to be successful in the industry he loved. One fourth of this money was to be "applied to prizes or scholarships for the encouragement of public service, public morals, American literature, and the advancement of education." Pulitzer documented in his will that the Prize be awarded in four categories: journalism, letters and dramas, education and traveling scholarships (1). In the letters category, only a select group of works were to be considered for nomination. These included original American plays performed in New York, books on American history, American biographies, American novels, and histories of service by the press. However, after realizing how narrow these categories were, Pulitzer appointed an advisory board who would be more sensitive to American culture and literary progressions (1). In an effort to keep the Prize up to speed, the board was given "power in its discretion to suspend or to change any subject or subjects, substituting, however, others in their places, if in the judgment of the board such suspensions, changes, or substitutions shall be conducive to the public good or rendered advisable by public necessities, or by reason of change of time." Also, the board could withhold any awards if the nominees did not stand up to the level of

Citations: Pulitzer.org Nov., 1998 2) Felicity Baringer, "Looking Through Pulitzer-Colored Glass: Disasters and Crime Reign Supreme" NY Times April 20, 1998 News.uiuc.edu Craig Chamberlain July 11, 2001 6) Interview with Stephen Dunn PBS.org April 26, 2001