The Pulitzer Prize: History and Laureates. Pulitzer Prize

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10.04.14 10:33

$10,000 seems like a small amount. But the main thing here is prestige! Pulitzer Prize, awarded annually for the best book of a fiction genre (this is one of 6 nominations), is a very honorable award.

What are they awarded for?

At the beginning of the last century, the award was established by the founder of the foundation of the same name, the famous publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The Trustees of Columbia University present the award every year (since 1917). The exceptions are only a few years, when for some reason the winner was not named (one of the latest precedents is 2012).

Prerequisites: The applicant must be an American who has written and published a book on the problems of US society. The jury selects three nominees, and then the Pulitzer Prize Board names the winner of these three.

Sometimes the Council is accused of subjectivity, but this is inevitable: how many people, so many opinions. But “public opinions” and ratings do not affect the decision of the commission, and often the winners are far from bestsellers. But the already received award is a reason to pay attention to the book. Therefore, the best of the laureate works have been filmed. Here we are talking about these books.

Love, War, Great Depression

One of the first Pulitzer Prizes went to a female writer, Edith Wharton, for her exquisite Age of Innocence. The hypocrisy and hypocrisy of high society at the end of the 19th century and the fight against it by the protagonist, lawyer Archer, are the main thing in the plot. The choice of a lawyer between marriage to May's modest "peer" and an affair with her "disgraced" cousin in Europe, Countess Ellen, will be difficult. Martin Scorsese brought Wharton's work to the screen - the film is called "The Age of Innocence", and starred Daniel Day-Lewis, young Winona Ryder and the dazzling Michelle Pfeiffer in it.

In 1937, "southern" Margaret Mitchell told about the horrors of the American Civil War through the prism of perception of the windy, but brave girl Scarlett. It was Gone with the Wind. Needless to say, the film with Vivien Leigh turned out to be excellent, and he was literally “showered” with Oscars.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck received a Pulitzer in 1940 and was dedicated to the hardships of a family of farmers who lost almost everything during the Great Depression. Directed by John Ford, the drama of the same name won two Oscars in 1941.

On politics, the sea and racial discrimination

In 1947, Robert Penn Warren became the “birthday boy” of the award with his political thriller All the King’s Men. A very popular work, repeatedly filmed (in the last film of 2006, Sean Penn shone - in leading role skillful trickster-politician Willie Stark, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins and Jude Law).

Ernest Hemingway told about the ordeals of the elderly Cuban Santiago, who caught a huge fish that carried him into the open ocean, in his legendary story The Old Man and the Sea. This is the 1953 Pulitzer Prize. By the way, a short cartoon by Russian director Alexander Petrov won an Oscar in 2000 based on the work.

The famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee. She deservedly received the award in 1961. This is a story about an honest lawyer, raising two children alone, who was not afraid to defend a black fellow countryman (he was accused of rape). And again - an ambulance adaptation, and again - three Oscars, including the eminent Gregory Peck for the role of Finch's lawyer. This film ranks second in the list of the most outstanding US films of all time, thanks to Harper Lee for a great story.

But Steven Spielberg staged the drama “Purple Flowers of the Fields” based on the book by black writer Alice Walker “The Color Purple” (1983 award). 11 Oscar nominations, the amazing Whoopi Goldberg (and the wonderful Danny Glover) in the lead roles and the hard life of a girl in the former slave South, already pregnant at fourteen ... by her own father.

"The Lost Generation" and the search for the meaning of life

John Updike received two awards at once for his two novels from the famous Rabbit tetralogy (this nickname was given to main character all parts of the franchise, basketball player Harry) - these were "Rabbit Got Rich" in 1982 and "Rabbit Calmed Down" in 1991. And for the first time, Harry appears in the book "Rabbit Run" ("the film incarnation" of the basketball player in the film of the same name was James Caan). The cycle is a classic of the genre about the post-war generation of America, “traditionally” looking for the meaning of life, whose share was their wars, Vietnam and Korea.

In 1999, Michael Cunningham won the prize with The Hours. The fates of three women (including the writer Wulff) of different generations are intricately intertwined in a narrative that covers only one day in the life of each. Is it any wonder that Cunningham became the author of the script for the film, which was nominated for the main Oscar in 2002? She won the Nicole Kidman Award for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf.

A post-apocalyptic future appears in Corman McCarthy's The Road. father and little son wandering in search of salvation from hordes of zombies on the roads of America, what awaits them around the corner?

Instruction

The date of establishment of the award is August 17, 1903 - the day when the American newspaper magnate of Hungarian-Jewish origin Joseph Pulitzer made a clause in his will that negotiated the conditions for the founding of the School of Journalism at Columbia University and the creation of a special fund named after Pulitzer, which should pay cash prizes outstanding figures in the field of literature, music, journalism and theater. For these purposes, the businessman, who died in October 1911, bequeathed 2 million dollars.

The award, presented annually by the Trustees of Columbia University in New York, is $10,000. Seven times in the history of the award (in 1920, 1941, 1946, 1954, 1964, 1971 and 1974) it was not awarded to anyone, because the jury could not single out a single work worthy of an award.

In 1942, the organizing committee of the Pulitzer Prize decided to award it to photojournalism as well. And since 2006, not only works in paper form, but also works from the Internet.

Over the years, such well-known literary works like Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. However, most of the award-winning books have never been bestsellers, and many of the award-winning plays have never been made on Broadway. The situation was reversed in the journalism category, with major newspaper publications such as The Washington Post and The New York Times receiving most of the awards.

The first foreign nominee for the award was the Russian journalist Artem Borovik, whose report “Room 19” about the Brain Institute was shown on the American CBS channel. In April 2001, the Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Anna Politkovskaya, the author of a detailed chronicle of the war in Chechnya. The award was twice won by photojournalist Alexander Zemlyanichenko, who reported on the Moscow putsch in 1991 and photographed President Boris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert.

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Does the name Perelman tell you something? But he is the world-famous winner of the Nobel Prize, or rather the Fields Prize in mathematics. Perelman is a Russian compatriot living modestly in the city Saint Petersburg.

Forty-four-year-old Grigory Yakovlevich Perelman, rightfully considered one of the most smart people world, received a well-deserved award for solving the so-called Poincaré hypothesis in the scientific community - a complex mathematical problem, the solution of which he, by the way, easily posted on the Internet. The problem is devoted to finding evidence that a three-dimensional space without holes has the shape of a sphere stretched in space.

This hundred-year-old riddle is finding the shape of the universe, proof that our Earth is round.

Riddle in 3D

According to mankind's ideas about three-dimensional spheres, close up they are no different from three-dimensional spaces, the so-called three-dimensional manifolds, of which there are a great many in nature. The French mathematician Poincaré voiced the theory that, given a certain number of properties, one can unmistakably assert that a three-dimensional manifold is nothing more than a sphere.

ingenious failure

The Thurstonai conjecture itself, of which the stated problem is a special case, was put forward as early as 1904. In 2006, the ingenious Perelman was awarded the Fields Prize, and in 2010 the Millennium Prize, which he safely refused, saying that the very fact of such an achievement is already the greatest award in his life. The proofs provided by Gregory were carefully checked by leading experts in the field of topology, who unanimously came to the conclusion that they were absolutely correct.

It is interesting that one of the greatest mathematicians lives rather modestly and does not differ in any way from ordinary residents of ordinary nine-story panel buildings in the Kupchinsky district, except for a not quite well-groomed curly beard and a special view of the universe.

The Fields Prize is the highest international award in the field of mathematics, it is awarded to one scientist every 4 years. Accompanied by a badge of distinction - a gold medal.

Today, books and even pictures are written about Grigory Perelman, this great recluse has forever remained the object of numerous gossip and discussions among members of the scientific community as a person who did not take a million dollars just because he did not want "everyone to stare at him like an animal in a zoo ", and who believes that for the life and work of the individual "money and fame are not needed, only peace and solitude."

However, Grigory Yakovlevich was not always a recluse, he worked at leading universities in the United States and Russia, even gave lectures, but today he lives with his mother and does not even communicate with his neighbors.

Great scientists at all times did a lot to develop knowledge about the world of their contemporary society. Some of the knowledge of the great researchers of the Middle Ages could cause horror, but now the most prominent scientists are nominated for special awards. The most prestigious award in the field of science is considered Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Prize is the most honored award in the field of science. She is only the best figures in the field of physics, literature, medicine. The area of ​​science for which the award is due may include research on nanotechnology and. There is also the Nobel Peace Prize. It can be received by those who have made every effort to strengthen the world.


There is a certain paradox in the existence of this award, because it was created by a man who “gave” the world nitroglycerin, dynamite and the latest detonator for explosive devices.


Alfred Nobel was a great scientist and poet. His main idea was peace on Earth, he wanted to do everything in order to prevent war. Science and literature were also his main associates.


Alfred left behind a sum of nine million dollars. They were supposed to be given to people who made an incredible contribution to literature, physics, chemistry, or the strengthening of the world. The first award was made on December 10, 1901.


The award is awarded only in Sweden, since its founder was a citizen of this particular country. There is a rule that only one person and one time can receive an award. This condition does not apply only to rewards for peace.


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The content of the article

PULITZER PRIZES, Awarded in the United States for excellence in journalism, creative writing (fiction and playwriting), and music. Awarded annually on the first Monday of May by the Trustees of Columbia University on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board. The awards are given under the auspices of the Journalism Department of Columbia University. Under the terms of the agreement between the university and J. Pulitzer, concluded in 1903, and subsequently included in the text of Pulitzer's will dated April 16, 1904 and described in detail in the charter of awards, the monetary part of the awards is the annual income from the Pulitzer Fund of 550 thousand dollars. This fund, in turn formed from J. Pulitzer's $2 million donation to the university.

Since the awards were first presented in 1917, the university's trustees and board members of the Pulitzer Prizes have faithfully followed the founder's legacy. Although the trustees of the university have the right to award awards, it is the board that has a decisive vote in deciding whether to award, not award, or new criteria for awarding awards. At the beginning, the council consisted of 13 members. By the mid-1990s, there were already 17 of them. Created in 1912, the council was named the Advisory Council of the Faculty of Journalism. In 1950, the board was renamed the Pulitzer Prize Advisory Board, and in 1979 the Pulitzer Prize Board.

According to the charter of the awards, nominations in the field of journalism are announced in writing no later than February 1 of the calendar year. Literature nominations must be submitted no later than July 1 for books published between January 1 and June 30, and no later than November 1 for books published between July 1 and December 31 (books prepared for publication between November and December must be presented for consideration in the form of imposition). Journalism nominations may be submitted on behalf of any person at any time during the current award period. All nomination proposals are accompanied by copies of editorials, reports, cartoons or photographs. 4 copies of each book nominated for the literature prize are sent to the secretary of the council no later than the date indicated.

Plays produced during the 12 months between 2 March and 1 March may be nominated for the Drama Prize. Nominations in the field of music are sent no later than March 1 for works published between March 15 of the previous year and March 1 of the current year. Dramatic and musical works may be nominated provided that the council members are familiar with their public performance.

journalism awards.

In the mid-1990s, there were 14 journalism awards each year: a gold medal for public service and 13 awards of $3,000 each for a work published during the award period in an American daily, Sunday, or weekly newspaper. These awards are given for 1) outstanding public service by an American newspaper; 2) the best report on a specific event; 3) the best local investigative report (one article or a series of articles) created by an individual journalist or creative team; 4) the best critical material; 5) best comment; 6) the best report on a national topic; 7) the best reporting on international issues, including the materials of correspondents at the UN; 8) the best editorial material, where the quality criterion is the clarity of style, moral pathos, persuasiveness of argumentation and the ability to influence public opinion in the right direction, according to the author; 9) the best caricature, where the main quality criteria are a clear expression of the idea in the drawing, good drawing technique and vivid expressiveness, as well as the author's appeal to a socially significant problem; 10) the best photo essay of local importance; 11) best art photography; 12) best essay provided High Quality style and originality; 13) the best analytical material covering complex and important issues; and 14) best material scandalously sensational.

Literature, music and other categories.

In the field of literature, six Pulitzer Prizes of $3,000 each are awarded. They are awarded for 1) best work fiction, owned by an American writer, published as a book and preferably devoted to the problems of American life; 2) an American play, preferably original in plot and dedicated to American life; 3) the best work on US history; 4) the best biography or autobiography written by an American author; 5) the best poetic work, created by an American author; 6) best book non-fiction by an American author that does not fit into any other category. In the field of music, the Pulitzer Prize (originally a music scholarship) of $3,000 is awarded annually for "an outstanding musical composition by an American composer in any major form, including chamber, choral, orchestral works, opera, song, dance or otherwise a musical theater work that premiered in the United States this year.” There are also three foreign travel scholarships of $5,000 each, awarded to journalism graduates on the recommendation of the faculty council; one scholarship of $5,000 is awarded to an outstanding graduate who has expressed a desire to specialize in theatrical, musical, literary, film or television criticism. From time to time, special awards are given to journalists and writers, a newspaper or a publishing house, in recognition of their outstanding work and deserving of the Pulitzer Prize, but not received it in any of the existing categories.

Selection of laureates.

Award decisions are made by special juries appointed by the university for each category. Each jury draws up a list of three candidates for alphabetical order and passes it on to the Pulitzer Prize Board. The council is looking into everything necessary materials and the works of the nominees, after which it sends its recommendations to the trustees, who approve the choice made by the board and immediately announce the names of the laureates without holding an official ceremony. The Council has the right to award the prize to any applicant, regardless of the recommendations of the nominating jury. Jury members, board members or trustees are not entitled to participate in the discussion and voting if the award presented can benefit them personally or the organizations they represent. Council membership for each person is limited to three three-year terms. Vacancies are filled by voting, in which the current members of the council take part.

The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious US awards in literature, journalism, music and theater. It was founded by American journalist and publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

In 1904, Pulitzer made a will in which he donated two million dollars to Columbia University. The media tycoon wanted three-quarters of that money to go towards the creation of a top school of journalism, with the remainder to be used to create an award for American journalists.

In his will, Pulitzer asked for four awards each year in journalism, four in literature, and one in education. He wanted separate awards for best novel, drama, United States history book, and biography.

In October 1911, Joseph Pulitzer died. A year after Pulitzer's death, the Columbia School of Journalism was founded, and in 1917 a prize called the Pulitzer Prize was established.

Its first laureate was the American journalist Herbert Bayard Swape for the series "From Within the German Empire", published in the New York World in October 1916.

The heirs exactly fulfilled the will of Pulitzer, who bequeathed to form a supervisory board of newspaper publishers. In addition, he wanted the president of Columbia University, scientists and "other respectable people who are neither journalists nor editors" to sit on this body.

Since 1917, the Board of Supervisors has repeatedly exercised its right, enshrined in Pulitzer's will, to increase the number of awards. In 1922 there was a prize for the best caricature. In 1942, the award for the most outstanding photograph was added to it (later this nomination was divided into two - for news photography and art).

In 1999, the Supervisory Board allowed Internet reporters to participate in the "Journalistic Investigation" nomination. Since 2006, online content (reports, photographs) of the paper press has been accepted for consideration.

Since 2009, the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to journalists both for materials published in print media and for publications on the Internet.

On August 7, 1903, Joseph Pulitzer, the famous American newspaper magnate and publisher, made a will in which he instructed, after his death, to establish an award for journalists, writers and educators. This day is considered the date of the establishment of the Pulitzer Prize, the amount of which is 10 thousand dollars. Over the years, such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Saul Bellow, Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner and others have been honored with it.

The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in American journalism and literature, music and theater. The award was established on August 17, 1903, when the will of Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911), an American publisher, journalist, and founder of the yellow press genre, was made to create an award in his name. The Pulitzer Prize began to be awarded in May 1917 for outstanding achievements in literature and journalism. Its amount is 10,000 dollars.

The Pulitzer Prize was funded by an investment fund created after the publisher's death. In 1970, another foundation was set up, which managed to attract additional donations to pay for the awards of this prestigious award.

At the presentation of the Pulitzer Prize, the nomination "For Service to the Society" is especially noted. The nominee, in addition to monetary reward, is also awarded a gold medal. The award is given "for an exceptional example of worthy service to society."

The number of awards has increased over the years. In 1922 there was a prize for the best caricature. In 1942, an award for the most best photo. Since 1943, the list of nominees has been replenished with composers of music. In 1999, the nomination "Journalistic Investigation" was created. In 2006, they began to hold a competition among online content. Since 2009, the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to journalists both for materials published in print media and for publications on the Internet.

Currently, the prize is awarded in 25 nominations, 14 of them are related to journalism.

The Literary Prize is awarded in 6 nominations:

"For a fiction book written by an American writer, preferably about America";

"for a book on the history of the United States";

"For the biography or autobiography of an American author";

"For a poem";

"For non-fiction";

"For the best drama". In 1920, 1941, 1946, 1954, 1964, 1971 and 1974 it was not awarded to anyone, as the jury did not reveal a single worthy literary work.

The prizes are awarded by Columbia University in New York on the proposal of the Pulitzer Committee. It consists of 19 experts - five publishers, six editors, six academics, including the university president and dean of the journalism department, one columnist and award administrator.

Who decides whether to award the prize? Who was the first Pulitzer Prize winner?

The first recipient of the award in 1917 was the American journalist Herbert Bayard. He was awarded the prestigious New York World Prize for a series of articles entitled "From Within the German Empire".

Who was awarded the award in 2014?

In April 2014, in New York, the Guardian and Washington Post journalists received prestigious awards in the category "For Service to the Society" for exposing the illegal collection of data by American intelligence agencies.

The Pulitzer Prize for International Journalism was also awarded to two Reuters correspondents for a series of reports on the persecution of the Muslim minority, the Rohingya people, in Myanmar.

The Breaking News award went to The Boston Globe for reporting from the scene in Boston during the terrorist attack.

Literary award in the nomination " Fiction"won Donna Tartt for the novel "The Goldfinch" ("The Goldfinch").

Drama nomination - Annie Baker for the play "Kinoshka" ("The Flick").

Musical "Pulitzer" was received by American composer John Luther Adams for the orchestral work "Become Ocean" ("Become Ocean").

Who else was among the winners of the Pulitzer Prize?

Over the years, Pulitzer Prize winners for literature have included Ernest Hemingway ("The Old Man and the Sea"), Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird"), William Faulkner ("A Parable"), Tennessee Williams ("A Streetcar Named Desire"), Arthur Miller (" Death of a Salesman"), Margaret Mitchell ("Gone with the Wind"), John Updike (for the novels "The Rabbit Got Rich" and "The Rabbit Settled").

The Pulitzer Prize for Music was awarded to Wynton Marsalis (1997), George Gershwin (1998), Duke Ellington (1999), Kevin Pats (2012).

The award for the best photo in different years was received by Don Bartletti for a series of photographs of people trying to leave Central America for the United States, Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner "Andrea Doria" taken 9 minutes before it went under water, Alexander Zemlyanichenko for a photograph of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a campaign concert, William Gallagher for a photograph of US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson's holey boot, Stan Grossfeld for a series of photographs of famine in Ethiopia, etc.

Winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Photography:

2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer for The New York Times.
The award is given for intrepid and breathtaking photographs of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.


This year's Pulitzer Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for photojournalists, went to Tyler Hicks and Josh Haner.




Josh Haner received a nomination in the special photography category for a series of images that tell the story of Jeff Baum - one of the victims of the Boston bombings - who lost both legs and is now trying to get back to normal.


A team of photographers from the Associated Press was recognized as the best in the category "Top News Photography". It's about about the work that covered the Syrian Civil War. The agency's team of photographers who focused on the 2 year conflict included: Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Khalil Hamra, Muhammed Muheisen and Narciso Contreras.


A woman named Aida is crying. She was seriously injured after the Syrian military shelled her house in Idlib. Northern Syria, March 10, 2012. During the attack, Aida's husband and their two children were killed. Photographer Rodrigo Abd-AP.

Massoud Husseini - Crying girl among the dead in Kabul.



2011

Barbara Davidson for a series of photographs of innocent victims of an urban gang shootout


Damon Winter for a series of photographs of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama


René Baer (The Sacramento Bee) for photographing a single mother and her son losing in the fight against cancer


Oded Balilti for photographing the confrontation between troops and residents of the West Bank


Deanne Fitzmaurice (San Francisco Chronicle) for photo of Iraqi boy injured in explosion


David Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer for a photo series about the Iraq War


Don Bartletty (Los Angeles Times) for a series of photographs of young people trying to leave Central America for the northern United States and in mortal danger


Matt Rainey (Star-Ledger) for a series of photographs of two friends injured in a dorm fire


Carol Ghusi, Michael Williamson and Lucien Perkins (Washington Post) for a photo series about Kosovo refugees


Associated Press team for photos of the Monica Lewinsky scandal


Clarence Williams (LA Times) for a series of photographs of children of drug addicted parents


1997

Alexander Zemlyanichenko (AP) for photographing Boris Yeltsin dancing at an election concert


1996

Stephanie Welsh for a photo series from Kenya about FGM


Associated Press team for work in Rwanda


Kevin Carter for photographing a starving child with a vulture watching him. After accusations that the photographer did not help the child, Carter committed suicide.


John Kaplan for a series of photographs depicting the generation of 21-year-olds

Stan Grossfeld for a series of photos of famine in Ethiopia

James Dickman for a series of photographs of life and death in El Salvador

John White for a series of photographs about life


Taro Yamasaki for photographs of the Michigan prison


Jahangir Razmi for photographing a firing squad in Iran


Stanley Foreman for the 1975 Boston Fire series of photographs

Rocco Morabito for the photo "Kiss of Life" in which one worker saves another after being electrocuted by giving him artificial respiration and heart massage right on the pole. The worker survived.

Jack Thornell for the photograph taken immediately after the shooting of James Meredith, a human rights activist


Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner "Andrea Doria", taken 9 minutes before she went under water


William Gallagher for photographing US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson's holey shoe. Stevenson lost to Eisenhower


1949

Nathaniel Fane for photographing baseball player Babe Ruth's last public appearance. Two months later, the athlete died of cancer


Earl Bunker for photographing the head of the family returning home in small town in southeast Nebraska