Pulitzer Prize

							Pulitzer Prize
A Pulitzer Prize is an award given in honor of literary achievements,
musical compositions and newspaper journalism. The University of
Columbia, which is in the city of New York, administers these American
awards annually. The organizers present gold medals to the winners in
different categories such as 'public services'. The organizers normally
present this award to newspapers though a citation of individuals may
crop up. Joseph Pulitzer, who was born in Hungary but raised in America,
established the award. The award ceremony takes place in the month of
April each year. Independent boards conduct the nomination of the
recipients of the award; some of the famous people to receive these
awards include Eudora Welty and Toni Morrison. The Pulitzer awards have
twenty-one categories such as the investigative reporting category, which
is an award contested by journalists who investigate on social matters
and publish an article on them.
Another category is the explanatory reporting category, which is for
newspapers that illuminate complex or significant subjects; they
demonstrate lucid writing, clear presentation and subject mastery.
Another category is the National Reporting category, which newspapers
that report on national affairs contest for. This category has been part
of the Pulitzer prizes since 1948. The board that organizes these awards
differentiates between 'nominated finalists' and 'entrants'. Entrants are
people who submit their work for consideration. Any person, group or body
may submit their work for consideration; the organizing board normally
announces the period in which any member of the public may submit their
work. People selected by an organizing board or a jury are 'nominated
finalists', who the Master of Ceremony may name when presenting the
awards. Only the nominated finalists have the title 'Pulitzer Prize
nominees'.
Other categories include history, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama and
music, all these fall in the general category of entertainment. The board
normally reads some of the work submitted to them before deciding on the
nominees. The board does not issue the awards based on popularity of the
journalists or authors but on the quality of the content. If a person's
work impresses the panel of judges, one may win an award in that
category. The organizing board ensures that the presentation of Pulitzer
prizes occurs only during the ceremony and not prior to the ceremony. The
board organizing the event normally has about eighteen members or
slightly more. In other categories such as Editorial Cartooning, the
award goes to the newspaper that publishes the best cartoon portfolios
inclusive of editorial effectiveness, originality, pictorial effect and
drawing quality.
Breaking news photography, formerly known as 'spot news photography', is
an award that the board presents to photographers who produce quality
albums and sequence. Others include feature photography, criticism,
commentary, international reporting and feature writing. Over the years,
the elected boards have discontinued some of the awards due to their
expansion or renaming. Some of them include Pulitzer prizes for
reporting, explanatory journalism, correspondence, telegraphic
international reporting, specialized reporting, telegraphic national
reporting, novel writing and beat reporting. Some of awards have expanded
due to the increasing number of categories, thus causing the board to
alter the names of the awards. Elimination of some awards occurred due to
their irrelevancy.