English II
Honors
A Survey of American Fiction and Nonfiction
Mrs.Crawford
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BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE PULITZER PRIZES
John Steinbeck
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech 1962
In the latter
years of the 19th century, Joseph Pulitzer stood out as the very embodiment of
American journalism. Hungarian-born, an intense indomitable figure, Pulitzer was
the most skillful of newspaper publishers, a passionate crusader against
dishonest government, a fierce, hawk-like competitor who did not shrink from
sensationalism in circulation struggles, and a visionary who richly endowed his
profession. His innovative New York World and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reshaped
newspaper journalism. Pulitzer was the first to call for the training of
journalists at the university level in a school of journalism. And certainly,
the lasting influence of the Pulitzer Prizes on journalism, literature, music,
and drama is to be attributed to his visionary acumen. In writing his 1904 will,
which made provision for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes as an
incentive to excellence, Pulitzer specified solely four awards in journalism,
four in letters and drama, one for education, and four traveling scholarships.
In letters,
prizes were to go to an American novel, an original American play performed in
New York, a book on the history of the United States, an American biography, and
a history of public service by the press. But, sensitive to the dynamic
progression of his society Pulitzer made provision for broad changes in the
system of awards. He established an overseer advisory board and willed it
"power in its discretion to suspend or to change any subject or subjects,
substituting, however, others in their places, if in the judgment of the board
such suspension, changes, or substitutions shall be conducive to the public good
or rendered advisable by public necessities, or by reason of change of
time." He also empowered the board to withhold any award where entries fell
below its standards of excellence. The assignment of power to the board was such
that it could also overrule the recommendations for awards made by the juries
subsequently set up in each of the categories. Since the inception of the prizes
in 1917,
The
board, later renamed the Pulitzer Prize Board, has increased the number of
awards to 21 and introduced poetry, music, and photography as subjects, while
adhering to the spirit of the founder's will and its intent.
Over the years
the Pulitzer board has at times been targeted by critics for awards made or not
made--see and excerpt from WJ Stuckey's 1966 The
Pulitzer Prize Novels on one of these controversial choices. Controversies also have arisen over decisions made by the board counter to
the advice of juries. Given the subjective nature of the award process, this was
inevitable. The board has not been captive to popular inclinations. Many, if not
most, of the honored books have not been on bestseller lists, and many of the
winning plays have been staged off-Broadway or in regional theaters. In 1963 the
drama jury nominated Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", but the
board found the script insufficiently "uplifting," a complaint that
related to arguments over sexual permissiveness and rough dialogue. In 1993 the
prize went to Tony Kushner's "Angels in America: Millennium
Approaches," a play that dealt with problems of homosexuality and AIDS and
whose script was replete with obscenities. On the same debated issue of taste,
the board in 1941 denied the fiction prize to Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the
Bell Tolls, but gave him the award in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, a lesser
work. Notwithstanding these contretemps, from its earliest days, the board has
in general stood firmly by a policy of secrecy in its deliberations and refusal
to publicly debate or defend its decisions. The challenges have not lessened the
reputation of the Pulitzer Prizes as the country's most prestigious awards and
as the most sought-after accolades in journalism, letters, and music.
The formal
announcement of the prizes, made each April, states that the awards are made by
the president of Columbia University on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize
board. This formulation is derived from the Pulitzer will, which established
Columbia as the seat of the administration of the prizes. Today, in fact, the
independent board makes all the decisions relative to the prizes. In his will
Pulitzer bestowed an endowment on Columbia of $2,000,000 for the establishment
of a School of Journalism, one-fourth of which was to be "applied to prizes
or scholarships for the encouragement of public, service, public morals,
American literature, and the advancement of education." In doing so, he
stated: "I am deeply interested in the progress and elevation of
journalism, having spent my life in that profession, regarding it as a noble
profession and one of unequaled importance for its influence upon the minds and
morals of the people. I desire to assist in attracting to this profession young
men of character and ability, also to help those already engaged in the
profession to acquire the highest moral and intellectual training." In his
ascent to the summit of American journalism, Pulitzer himself received little or
no assistance. He prided himself on being a self-made man, but it may have been
his struggles as a young journalist that imbued him with the desire to foster
professional training.
Pulitzer prizes in Literature are given to distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States, or for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.
Official Pulitzer Prize Homepage
The complete list of Pulitzer Prizes in Literature.
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