100 Years of Pulitzer: AP, Reuters, New York Times Emerge Winners

The 2016 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced at 3 pm eastern time, 18 April.

A Syrian refugee holds onto his children as he struggles to walk off a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Lesbos 24 September 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)

The list of Pulitzer Winners 2016. (Photo Courtesy: Pulitzer Website screengrab)

The Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for reporting on abuse in the seafood industry that helped free 2,000 slave labourers, and Reuters and The New York Times shared the breaking news photography award for images of the European refugee crisis.

The Pulitzer Board, in conferring the most prestigious honours in US journalism and the arts on Monday, also honoured the Los Angeles Times for breaking news reporting for its coverage of the massacre by ISIS in San Bernardino, California.

Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Davan Maharaj, with Deputy Managing Editor, Megan Garvey, holds up a special edition of The Los Angeles Times’ coverage of the San Bernardino attack. (Photo: AP)

This year’s announcement at New York’s Columbia University marked the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzers, which began in 1917 after a bequest from newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

Seafood from Slaves by The Associated Press

The AP’s prize-winning “Seafood from Slaves” report was an investigation into the mistreatment of workers in Southeast Asia used to supply seafood to American supermarkets and restaurants. The coverage resulted in the freeing of 2,000 slave labourers and sweeping reforms, the board said.

In this 16 May 2015 file photo, former slave fisherman Myint Naing and his mother, Khin Than, cry as they are reunited after 22 years at their village in Mon State, Myanmar. (Photo: AP)

The reporters “found captive slaves, countering industry claims that the problems had been solved,” AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll wrote in her nomination letter to the Pulitzer judges.

US customs records show the (slave-peeled) shrimp made its way into the supply chains of major US food stores and retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Dollar General and Petco, along with restaurants such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

<b>AP report in the series of 10 articles</b>

The New York Times Owns Record Number of Pulitzers

The New York Times, with a record 117 Pulitzer prizes and citations before this year’s announcement, added two more in 2016, taking the prize for international reporting in addition to its photography award.

The Boston Globe, the Tampa Bay Times and The New Yorker magazine also won two awards each. In total, the board handed out prizes in 21 categories, selected from about 3,000 entries.

Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda Wins Awards for Best Letters, Drama and Music

In the awards for letters, drama and music, the musical “Hamilton” by Lin-Manuel Miranda won for best drama. The Pulitzer board called the Broadway hit “a landmark American musical about the gifted and self-destructive founding father whose story becomes both contemporary and irresistible.”

The Sympathizer Wins Best Fiction Book

Viet Thanh Nguyen won the fiction award for “The Sympathizer,” an immigrant story about a “man of two minds” and two countries, Vietnam and the United States.

This book cover image released by Grove Press shows “The Sympathizer,” a novel by by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday, 18 April 2016 in the fiction category. (Photo: AP) 

Pulitzer Prize in History

The board awarded the history prize to the TJ Stiles book, “Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America.”

This book cover image released by Alfred A. Knopf shows, “Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America,” by TJ Stiles. (Photo: AP)

Migrants at Sea

The Reuters photo coverage of Middle Eastern migrants arriving in Europe was led from Greece by Yannis Behrakis, chief photographer for Greece and Cyprus and the Guardian newspaper’s 2015 Agency Photographer of the Year.

An overcrowded inflatable boat with Syrian refugees drifts in the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece after its motor broke down off the Greek island of Kos, 11 August 2015. Reuters and The New York Times shared the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for images of the migrant crisis in Europe and the Middle East. (Photo: Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)

The team captured a series of images of migrants crowded on flimsy sea craft and their first moments upon reaching Europe.

We showed the world what was going on, and the world cared. It showed that humanity is still alive. We made for these unfortunate people’s voice to be heard. Now with a Pulitzer, we feel that our work has been professionally recognised.

<b>Yannis Behrakis, Chief Photographer for Greece and Cyprus</b>

Some images showed families rushing ashore, flailing away in the water or collapsing on the beach. Others juxtaposed the rafters at sea with a cruise ship or a leaping dolphin or the setting sun.

The Reuters photo staff was named as co-winner for breaking news photography along with Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York Times, also for their images of the migrant crisis.

In this 1 November 2015 photo by Sergey Ponomarev, migrants arrive by a Turkish boat near the village of Skala, on the Greek island of Lesbos. Ponomarev, Mauricio Lima, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter, of The New York Times, won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for photographs that captured the resolve of refugees. (Photo: AP)

It was the third Pulitzer for Reuters, a unit of Thomson Reuters, having won for international reporting in 2014 and for breaking news photography in 2008.

Other Pulitzer Prizes

The Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune shared the 2016 prize for investigative reporting. The two Florida newspapers won for collaborative reporting on violence and neglect in the state’s mental hospitals.

The Tampa Bay Times took a second Pulitzer, with three of its reporters being honoured for showing the consequences of a school board turning some county schools in to “failure factories.”

In this November 2015 photo, Strider Wolf reaches up to grab high on a sapling revealing a scar on his stomach from a feeding tube as a result from his childhood abuse. This was one of the images by Jessica Rinaldi, of The Boston Globe, that won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for photos of a boy who strives to find his footing after being abused. (Photo: AP)

The prize for national reporting went to the staff of the Washington Post for developing a database on fatal police shootings and those likely to fall victim.

Alissa J Rubin of The New York Times won in the international reporting category for her stories on the inhumane treatment of Afghan women.

The Boston Globe’s prizes were in the feature photography and commentary categories, while The New Yorker took prizes for criticism and feature writing.

(With inputs from Reuters)