Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing

Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing

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Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing

The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.

List of winners and their official citations

1979: Jon D. Franklin, Baltimore Evening Sun, "for an account of brain surgery."
1980: Madeleine Blais, Miami Herald, "for 'Zepp's Last Stand.'"
1981: Teresa Carpenter, Village Voice, "for her account of the death of actress-model Dorothy Stratten." (The prize in this category was originally awarded to Janet Cooke of The Washington Post, but was revoked after it was revealed that her winning story about an 8-year-old heroin addict, was fabricated.)
1982: Saul Pett, Associated Press, "for an article profiling the federal bureaucracy."
1983: Nan C. Robertson, The New York Times, "for her memorable and medically detailed account of her struggle with toxic shock syndrome."
1984: Peter Mark Rinearson, The Seattle Times, "for 'Making It Fly,' his 29,000-word account of the development, manufacture, and marketing of the new Boeing 757" jetliner.
1985: Alice Steinbach, The Baltimore Sun, "for her account of a blind boy's world, 'A Boy of Unusual Vision.'"
1986: John Camp, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch, "for his five-part series examining the life of an American farm family faced with the worst U.S. agricultural crisis since the Depression."
1987: Steve Twomey, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "for his illuminating profile of life aboard an aircraft carrier."
1988: Jacqui Banaszynski, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch, "for her moving series about the life and death of an AIDS victim in a rural farm community."
1989: David Zucchino, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "for his richly compelling series, 'Being Black in South Africa.'"
1990: Dave Curtin, Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, "for a gripping account of a family's struggle to recover after its members were severely burned in an explosion that devastated their home."
1991: Sheryl James, St. Petersburg Times, "for a compelling series about a mother who abandoned her newborn child and how it affected her life and those of others."
1992: Howell Raines, The New York Times, "for 'Grady's Gift,' an account of the author's childhood friendship with his family's black housekeeper and the lasting lessons of their relationship."
1993: George Lardner Jr., The Washington Post, "for his unflinching examination of his daughter's murder by a violent man who had slipped through the criminal justice system."
1994: Isabel Wilkerson, The New York Times, "for her profile of a fourth-grader from Chicago's South Side and for two stories reporting on the Midwestern flood of 1993."
1995: Ron Suskind, The Wall Street Journal, "for his stories about inner-city honor students in Washington, D.C., and their determination to survive and prosper."
1996: Rick Bragg, The New York Times, "for his elegantly written stories about contemporary America."
1997: Lisa Pollak, The Baltimore Sun, "for her compelling portrait of a baseball umpire who endured the death of a son while knowing that another son suffers from the same deadly genetic disease."
1998: Thomas French, St. Petersburg Times, "for his detailed and compassionate narrative portrait of a mother and two daughters slain on a Florida vacation, and the three-year investigation into their murders."
1999: Angelo B. Henderson, The Wall Street Journal, "for his portrait of a druggist who is driven to violence by his encounters with armed robbery, illustrating the lasting effects of crime."
2000: J.R. Moehringer, Los Angeles Times, "for his portrait of Gee's Bend, an isolated river community in Alabama where many descendants of slaves live, and how a proposed ferry to the mainland might change it."
2001: Tom Hallman, Jr., The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), "for his poignant profile of a disfigured 14-year old boy who elects to have life-threatening surgery in an effort to improve his appearance."
2002: Barry Siegel, Los Angeles Times, "for his humane and haunting portrait of a man tried for negligence in the death of his son, and the judge who heard the case."
2003: Sonia Nazario, Los Angeles Times, "for 'Enrique's Journey,' her touching, exhaustively reported story of a Honduran boy's perilous search for his mother who had migrated to the United States."
2004: not awarded
2005: Julia Keller of Chicago Tribune, "for her gripping, meticulously reconstructed account of a deadly 10-second tornado that ripped through Utica, Ill."
2006: Jim Sheeler of Rocky Mountain News, "for his poignant story on a Marine major who helps the families of comrades killed in Iraq cope with their loss and honor their sacrifice."
2007: Andrea Elliott of The New York Times, "for her intimate, richly textured portrait of an immigrant imam striving to find his way and serve his faithful in America."
2008: Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post, "for his chronicling of a world-class violinist who, as an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station filled with unheeding commuters."