Pulitzer Prize: Slain photojournalist Danish Siddiqui among winners

New York: The New York Times won three Pulitzer Prizes and was named as a finalist five more times on Monday, while its rival the Washington Post took the public service award and Reuters claimed the prize for feature photography.

The journalists of Ukraine were also awarded a special citation for coverage of the Russian invasion, as the Pulitzer board paid homage to the 12 journalists who have been killed covering the Ukraine war this year.

The annual Pulitzers are the most prestigious awards in US journalism, with special attention often paid to the public service award.

This year that award went to the Washington Post for its coverage of the siege of the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, when a violent mob disrupted the congressional count of electoral votes that unseated Trump and officially made Joe Biden president.

The Washington Post won "for its compellingly told and vividly presented account of the assault on Washington on January 6, 2021, providing the public with a thorough and unflinching understanding of one of the nation's darkest days," Pulitzer Prize Administrator Marjorie Miller announced.

The events of that day also resulted in a breaking news photography Pulitzer for a team of photographers from Getty Images.

In feature photography, a team of Reuters photographers including the late Danish Siddiqui, who was killed last July while on assignment covering the war in Afghanistan, won the Pulitzer for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic's toll in India.

Reuters, which was also named as a feature photography finalist for images of climate change around the world, won for "images of COVID's toll in India that balanced intimacy and devastation," Miller said.

Besides Siddiqui, the Reuters photographers honored were Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo and Amit Dave.

"A world largely preoccupied with its own suffering was jolted awake to the scale of India's outbreak after Reuters photographers documented it," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement.

"To have Danish's incredible work honored in this way is a tribute to the enduring mark he has left on the world of photojournalism," Galloni said of Siddiqui, who was also part of the Reuters photography team to win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.

The Pulitzer was the 10th for Reuters, a unit of Thomson Reuters, and the seventh in the last five years.

With three more Pulitzers this year, the New York Times has won 135 since the awards were first presented in 1917.

The Times took one for national reporting for its coverage of fatal traffic stops by police; another for international reporting for its examination of the failures of the U.S. air war in the Middle East; and a third for criticism for Salamishah Tillet, a contributing critic at large, for her writing on race in arts and culture.

Besides winning the international reporting award, the Times was named as a finalist in the category twice more: for the fall of Afghanistan and the assassination of Haiti's president.

In addition, New York Times reporter Andrea Elliott won a Pulitzer Prize in the general nonfiction category for her book "Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City," which started with a 2013 series published by the newspaper.

The Pulitzer board made note of the "challenging and dangerous times for journalists around the world," noting 12 journalists killed covering the Ukraine war, eight Mexican journalists murdered this year, and other cases of assault and intimidation against journalists in Afghanistan and Myanmar.

The special citation for journalists of Ukraine applauded their "courage, endurance and commitment to truthful reporting during Vladimir Putin's ruthless invasion of their country and his propaganda war in Russia." The prizes, awarded since 1917, were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911 and left money to help start a journalism school at Columbia University and establish the prizes.

They began with four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and five traveling scholarships.

Today they typically honor 15 categories in media reporting, writing and photography plus seven awards in books, drama and music.

A board of mostly senior editors at leading U.S. media and academics presides over the judging process that determines the winners.

Public Service - The Washington Post

For its compellingly told and vividly presented account of the assault on Washington on January 6, 2021, providing the public with a thorough and unflinching understanding of one of the nation's darkest days.

Breaking News Reporting - Staff of the Miami Herald

For its urgent yet sweeping coverage of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex, merging clear and compassionate writing with comprehensive news and accountability reporting.

Investigative Reporting - Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray of the Tampa Bay Times

For a compelling exposé of highly toxic hazards inside Florida’s only battery recycling plant that forced the implementation of safety measures to adequately protect workers and nearby residents.

Explanatory Reporting - Staff of Quanta Magazine, New York, N.Y., notably Natalie Wolchover

For coverage that revealed the complexities of building the James Webb Space Telescope, designed to facilitate groundbreaking astronomical and cosmological research.

Local Reporting - Chicago Tribune

Madison Hopkins of the Better Government Association and Cecilia Reyes of the Chicago Tribune

For a piercing examination of the city’s long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement, which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths.

National Reporting - Staff of The New York Times

For an ambitious project that quantified a disturbing pattern of fatal traffic stops by police, illustrating how hundreds of deaths could have been avoided and how officers typically avoided punishment.

International Reporting - Staff of The New York Times

For courageous and relentless reporting that exposed the vast civilian toll of U.S.-led airstrikes, challenging official accounts of American military engagements in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. (Moved by the Board from the Public Service category, where it was also nominated.)

Feature Writing - Jennifer Senior of The Atlantic

For an unflinching portrait of a family’s reckoning with loss in the 20 years since 9/11, masterfully braiding the author's personal connection to the story with sensitive reporting that reveals the long reach of grief.

Commentary - Melinda Henneberger of The Kansas City Star

For persuasive columns demanding justice for alleged victims of a retired police detective accused of being a sexual predator.

Editorial Writing -  The Houston Chronicle

Lisa Falkenberg, Michael Lindenberger, Joe Holley and Luis Carrasco of the Houston Chronicle

For a campaign that, with original reporting, revealed voter suppression tactics, rejected the myth of widespread voter fraud and argued for sensible voting reforms.

Illustrated Reporting and Commentary - New York Times

Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey of Insider, New York, N.Y.

For using graphic reportage and the comics medium to tell a powerful yet intimate story of the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs, making the issue accessible to a wider public.

Breaking News Photography -  The Los Angeles Times

Marcus Yam of the Los Angeles Times

For raw and urgent images of the US departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. (Moved from Feature Photography by the jury.)

Win McNamee, Drew Angerer, Spencer Platt, Samuel Corum and Jon Cherry of Getty Images. For comprehensive and consistently riveting photos of the attack on the US Capitol.

Feature Photography - Reuters

Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave and the late Danish Siddiqui of Reuters

For images of COVID’s toll in India that balanced intimacy and devastation, while offering viewers a heightened sense of place. (Moved from Breaking News Photography by the jury.)

Audio Reporting - New York

Staffs of Futuro Media, New York, NY and PRX, Boston, Mass.

For “Suave,” a brutally honest and immersive profile of a man reentering society after serving more than 30 years in prison.