Two of the reference newspapers in the United States,
The New York Times
and
The Washington Post
, have won the main Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, which recognize the best journalism and are awarded each year by Columbia University.
The New York newspaper has been awarded in three categories, while the newspaper of the federal capital has achieved the distinction for the best public service for its "forceful and vivid" coverage of the assault on the Capitol by a trumpist horde, on January 6, 2021, the day that Joe Biden's electoral victory in the presidential elections was to be certified.
A special award went to all the journalists reporting on the war in Ukraine.
While
The New York Times
has won the award for best international reporting for its sweeping and uncompromising look at the failures of the US air war in the Middle East, including the tragic toll of civilian casualties caused by drone strikes,
The The
Washington Post
, owned by tycoon and former Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, offered its readers “the convincingly told and vividly presented account of the assault on Capitol Hill…giving the public a full and compelling understanding of one of the darkest days of the nation”, explained Marjorie Miller, administrator of the awards, during the reading of the ruling.
From
The New York Times
, the jury noted the depth of his investigative journalism.
In addition, he also won the award for best national report for a series of articles on the deaths of hundreds of motorists and motorcyclists at the hands of the police.
The last known case, that of a young Congolese in Michigan, was recently revealed thanks to information in the newspaper.
A longtime
Times
contributor was also honored with the Cultural Criticism Award for her writing on race and artistic creation.
In the category of non-fiction work, a journalist from the newspaper received the award for a book on child poverty that emerged as a result of a series of reports published in her pages.
Marcus Yam's photo from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times.Marcus Yam (AP)
An important dimension of the Pulitzers is their recognition of the best photojournalism.
If last year he awarded the coverage of the pandemic by the Spanish photographer Emilio Morenatti, this year he has valued the continued work of the Reuters agency in its graphic coverage of the pandemic in India.
In the last-minute images section, the award went to the photograph showing the flight of a military transport plane over the relatives of the nine fatalities, all from the same family, from the bombing of an American drone in Kabul, during withdrawal operations from Afghanistan.
The scene was captured by the
Los Angeles Times photojournalist and correspondent
Marcus Yam, and soberly reflects the ravages of US drones, those collateral damage that, in this case, it took so long for Washington to recognize.
The Miami Herald
was recognized for its reporting on the collapse of a residential building, which left 98 dead.
And the work
Cuba: An American History
, in which the Cuban-American Ada Ferrer recounts the history of the island from the arrival of the Spanish to the contemporary era, won the award for the best history book published in 2021. Ferrer is a history teacher from New York University.
The Pulitzer - winning book has already been honored in the same category by the
Los Angeles Times
.
The Pulitzer Prizes, awarded annually, are the most prestigious accolades in American journalism.
Issued since 1917, they were established in the will of influential newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911 and left money to found a journalism school at Columbia University and endow the prizes.
In their day, they started with four awards in journalism, four in literature and drama, one for education, and five travel scholarships.
Today they represent a total of 15 categories in media reports, writing and photography, in addition to seven awards in literature, theater and music.
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