Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
Template:Short description Template:Pulitzer
The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by Columbia University. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.
Winners and citationsEdit
The Criticism Pulitzer has been awarded to one person annually except in 1992 when it was not awarded—43 prizes in 44 years 1970–2013. Wesley Morris is the only person to have won the prize more than once, winning in 2012 and 2021.<ref name=prize/> In 2020, podcasts and audio reporting became eligible for the prize.Template:Citation needed
1970sEdit
| Year | Name(s) | Publication | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for distinguished criticism during 1969." |
| 1971 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his music criticism during 1970." |
| 1972 | Template:Sortname | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "for his music criticism during 1971." |
| 1973 | Template:Sortname | Chicago Sun-Times | "for his critical writing about television during 1972." |
| 1974 | Template:Sortname | Newsday | "for her critical writing about art and artists." |
| 1975 | Template:Sortname | Chicago Sun-Times | "for his film criticism during 1974." |
| 1976 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his critical writing about dance during 1975." |
| 1977 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his contribution to 'Book World.'" |
| 1978 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for articles on the theater in 1977 and throughout his long career." |
| 1979 | Template:Sortname | Chicago Tribune |
1980sEdit
1990sEdit
| Year | Name(s) | Publication | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Template:Sortname | San Francisco Chronicle | "for his architecture criticism." |
| Template:Sortname | The Press-Enterprise | "for his pop music criticism." | |
| Template:Sortname | Fort Worth Star-Telegram | "for his critical coverage of the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition." | |
| 1991 | Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his critiques of the way in which the media, including his own paper, reported the McMartin preschool trial." |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his columns on art and artists." | |
| Template:Sortname | San Francisco Examiner | "for her television criticism." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for perceptive articles critiquing various forms of advertising." | |
| 1992 | No award. | ||
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for his theater reviews." | |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for her essay on race and the messages of black nationalism." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for her critical columns on advertising and the media." | |
| 1993 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his book reviews." |
| Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for her literary and social criticism." | |
| Template:Sortname | Miami Herald | "for critical articles on popular music and culture." | |
| 1994 | Template:Sortname | Boston Phoenix | "for his skillful and resonant classical music criticism." |
| Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his imaginative and varied cultural criticism." | |
| Template:Sortname | Dallas Observer | "for his lucid and insightful film criticism." | |
| 1995 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for her book reviews and other cultural criticism." |
| Template:Sortname | The Baltimore Sun | "for his film criticism." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Wall Street Journal | "for her writing about television." | |
| 1996 | Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for his knowledgeable writing on architecture." |
| Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for her insightful reviews and comments on books and the literary scene." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Baltimore Sun | "for his distinguished film criticism." | |
| 1997 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his lucid and illuminating music criticism." |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his criticism of architecture in America, written with devotion to the art, penetrating analysis and literate style." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for her analytical columns about the forces at work behind advertising and consumerism, particularly on television." | |
| 1998 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for her passionate, intelligent writing on books and contemporary literature." |
| Template:Sortname | The Wall Street Journal | "for her tough-minded, critical columns on television and its place in politics and culture." | |
| Template:Sortname | New Times Los Angeles | "for his versatile and perceptive writing about film." | |
| 1999 | Template:Sortname | Chicago Tribune | "for his lucid coverage of city architecture, including an influential series supporting the development of Chicago's lakefront area." |
| Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his illuminating criticism of photography and painting." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for her compelling observations on books and popular culture." | |
| Template:Sortname | Newsday | "for his fresh and vivid writing on classical music and its makers." | |
2000sEdit
| Year | Name(s) | Publication | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his fresh and authoritative writing on photography." |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his gracefully-written observations on art and artists." | |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Observer | "for his informed and enlightening film criticism." | |
| 2001 | Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for her insightful observations on contemporary life and literature." |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his passionate and public-minded art criticism." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for his fresh and engaging views on contemporary art." | |
| 2002 | Template:Sortname | Newsday | "for his crisp coverage of classical music that captures its essence." |
| Template:Sortname | San Francisco Chronicle | "for his forcefully-expressed and engaging essays illustrating the role that architecture and urban design plays in the life of his city." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Wall Street Journal | "for his witty and commanding criticism of contemporary films." | |
| 2003 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his authoritative film criticism that is both intellectually rewarding and a pleasure to read." |
| Template:Sortname | San Francisco Chronicle | "for his perceptive, passionate criticism of architecture and urban design and their impact on life in his city." | |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his commanding reviews and essays on architectural development and preservation in an ever-evolving city." | |
| 2004 | Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his one-of-a-kind reviews of automobiles, blending technical expertise with offbeat humor and astute cultural observations." |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his versatile architectural criticism that stretched from his hometown's new Disney Hall to the rubble in Baghdad, where he pondered the ancient city's resurrection." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for her passionate and insightful architectural criticism that, through clear, elegant writing, was as accessible to the ordinary reader as it was to the expert." | |
| 2005 | Template:Sortname | The Wall Street Journal | "for his reviews that elucidated the strengths and weaknesses of film with rare insight, authority and wit." |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for boldly exploring the influence of popular culture on American politics and society." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Chronicle of Higher Education | "for bringing new vitality to the classic essay across a formidable array of topics." | |
| 2006 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for her witty, closely observed essays that transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism." |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his graceful, contemplative and wide ranging critiques of architecture and urban design from New Orleans to Berlin." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for his fresh, down-to-earth pieces on the visual arts and other cultural topics." | |
| 2007 | Template:Sortname | LA Weekly | "for his zestful, wide ranging restaurant reviews, expressing the delight of an erudite eater." |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his pieces on art that reflect meticulous reporting, aesthetic judgment and authoritative voice." | |
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for his passionate music criticism, marked by resonant writing and an ability to give life to the people behind a performance." | |
| 2008 | Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for his penetrating and versatile command of the visual arts, from film and photography to painting." |
| Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for her perceptive movie reviews and essays, reflecting solid research and an easy, engaging style." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for her forceful critiques that illuminate the vital interplay between architecture and the life of her city." | |
| 2009 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his wide ranging reviews of art, from Manhattan to China, marked by acute observation, luminous writing and dramatic storytelling."<ref>Holland Cotter bio page. The New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2010.</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for her fascinating and convincing architectural critiques that boldly confront important topics, from urban planning issues to the newest skyscraper." | |
| Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for his fresh, accessible and energetic reviews on the New England art scene, creating for readers a sense of discovery even as he provides discerning analysis." |
2010sEdit
| Year | Name(s) | Publication | Rationale | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for her refreshingly imaginative approach to dance criticism, illuminating a range of issues and topics with provocative comments and original insights." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for his engaging, authoritative drama reviews that fuse passion and knowledge as he helps readers understand what makes a play or a performance successful." | |||
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his incisive film reviews that, with aplomb, embrace a wide spectrum of movies and often explore their connection to larger issues in society or the arts." | |||
| 2011 | Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for his vivid and exuberant writing about art, often bringing great works to life with love and appreciation." | ||
| Template:Sortname | LA Weekly | "for his delightful, authoritative restaurant reviews, escorting readers through a city's diverse food culture." | |||
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for his well honed architectural criticism, highlighted by ambitious essays on the burst of architectural projects in oil-rich Middle East countries."" | |||
| 2012 | Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for his smart, inventive film criticism, distinguished by pinpoint prose and an easy traverse between the art house and the big-screen box office." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for his ambitious and insightful cultural criticism, taking on topical events from the uprisings in Egypt to the dedication of the Ground Zero memorial." | |||
| Template:Sortname | ArtsJournal.com | "for work that reveals passion as well as deep historical knowledge of dance, her well-expressed arguments coming from the heart as well as the head." | |||
| 2013 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for her enlightening movie criticism, vividly written and showing deep understanding of the business and art of filmmaking." | |||
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for her searching television criticism that often becomes a springboard for provocative comments on the culture at large." | |||
| 2014 | Template:Sortname | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for her criticism of architecture that blends expertise, civic passion and sheer readability into arguments that consistently stimulate and surprise." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The Stranger | "for her visual arts criticism that, with elegant and vivid description, informs readers about how to look at the complexities of contemporary art and the world in which it's made." | |||
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for her trenchant and witty television criticism, engaging readers through essays and reviews that feature a conversational style and the force of fresh ideas." | |||
| 2015 | Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for film criticism that rises from a sweeping breadth of knowledge—social, cultural, cinematic—while always keeping the viewer front and center." | |||
| Template:Sortname | The Village Voice | "for film criticism that combines the pleasure of intellectual exuberance, the perspective of experience and the transporting power of good writing." | |||
| 2016 | Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | "for theater reviews written with such erudition and linguistic sensitivity that they often become larger than their subjects." | |||
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for reviews and essays that take on the sacred cows of film culture with considerable style and admirable literary and historical reach." | |||
| 2017 | Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | The Boston Globe | "for a wide range of finely cut reviews of films and other cultural topics written with wit, deep sensibility and a refreshing lack of pretension." | |||
| Template:Sortname | Tampa Bay Times | "for lively restaurant reviews, including a series that took on the false claims of the farm-to-table movement and prompted statewide investigations." | |||
| 2018 | Template:Sortname | New York | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |
CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for writing, both downbeat and uplifting, that demonstrated the critic's sustained dedication to exposing male dominance in Hollywood and decrying the exploitation of women in the film business." | |||
| Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for criticism that dug deep into the books that have shaped political discourse—engaging seriously with scholarly works, partisan screeds and popular works of history and biography to produce columns and essays that plumbed the cultural and political genealogy of our current national divide." | |||
| 2019 | Template:Sortname | The Washington Post | "for trenchant and searching reviews and essays that joined warm emotion and careful analysis in examining a broad range of books addressing government and the American experience." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for authoritative film criticism that considered the impact of movies both inside the theater and in the wider world with rare passion, craftsmanship and insight." | |||
| Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | "for critical, yet restrained, explorations of incredibly varied subjects, from Frankenstein to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that combined literary nuance with intellectual rigor." |
2020sEdit
| Year | Name(s) | Publication | Rationale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for work demonstrating extraordinary community service by a critic, applying his expertise and enterprise to critique a proposed overhaul of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and its effect on the institution's mission." | |
| Template:Sortname | New York | "for architecture reviews marked by a keen eye, deep knowledge and exquisite writing, as exemplified by his essay on Manhattan's Hudson Yards development." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The Undefeated | "for essays on theater and film that bring a fresh, delightful intelligence to the intersections of race and art." | ||
| 2021 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for unrelentingly relevant and deeply engaged criticism on the intersection of race and culture in America, written in a singular style, alternately playful and profound." | |
| Template:Sortname | New York | "for writing on a range of popular topics, including social media, music and comedy, contending with the year's disarray and exploring how culture and conversation can both flourish and break down online." | ||
| Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | "for a series of critical essays that broke through the silence of the pandemic to recommend an eclectic array of recordings as entertainment and solace essential to the moment, drawing deep connections to seven centuries of classical music." | ||
| 2022 | Template:Sortname | The New York Times | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The Atlantic | "for articles that bring clarity and insight to questions concerning gender norms, feminism, and popular culture." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | "for accessible and dedicated art criticism that introduces or revisits painters, institutions and movements, offering tender appreciations and unflinching dissents." | ||
| 2023 | Template:Sortname | New York | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The New York Times | "for art criticism, especially for taking a critical eye to the frontlines of Ukraine to explore the cultural dimensions of the war, including verifying damages to architecture and other sites and explaining Russia's efforts to erase the Ukrainian identity." | ||
| Template:Sortname | Detroit Free Press | "for rigorously reported coverage of restaurant openings and recommended dishes that also serve as an immersive cultural portrait of a vital American city." | ||
| 2024 | Template:Sortname | Los Angeles Times | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | "for theater reviews that reflect a formidable knowledge of the stage and the mechanics of performance along with canny observations on the human condition." | ||
| Template:Sortname | The New York Review of Books | "for a review of the film Tár that addressed with wit and ease such consequential themes as mortality and the clash of generations." | ||
| 2025 | Template:Sortname | CityLab | "for graceful and genre-expanding writing about public spaces for families, deftly using interviews, observations and analysis to consider the architectural components that allow children and communities to thrive." | |
| Template:Sortname | The New Yorker | "for illuminating and personal reviews of work that appears on television, streaming services or social media, trenchant criticism that explores contemporary issues and society." | ||
| Template:Sortname | New York | "for insightful theater criticism that combines a reporter's eye and a historian's memory to inform readers about current stage productions." |