Editing Pulitzer Prize (section)

==Controversies==
* 1921 Fiction Prize: Columbia trustees overruled jury recommendation and awarded the prize to [[Edith Wharton]] for ''[[The Age of Innocence]]'' instead of the recommendation of [[Sinclair Lewis]] for ''[[Main Street (novel)|Main Street]]''.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Oehlschlaeger | first = Fritz H. | date = November 1979 | doi = 10.2307/2925396 | issue = 3 | journal = American Literature | jstor = 2925396 | pages = 409–414 | title = Hamlin Garland and the Pulitzer Prize controversy of 1921 | volume = 51}}</ref>
* [[Walter Duranty#Calls for revocation of Pulitzer Prize, 1990–2003|Call for revocation]] of journalist [[Walter Duranty]]'s [[1932 Pulitzer Prize]].
* Call for revocation of journalist [[William L. Laurence]]'s [[1946 Pulitzer Prize]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
* 1941 Novel Prize: The advisory board elected to overrule the jury and recommended ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'' by [[Ernest Hemingway]]. However, Columbia University president [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] implored the committee to reconsider, citing the potential association between the university and the novel's frank sexual content; instead, no award was given.<ref name=Boylan-2003/>{{rp|118}} Twelve years later, Hemingway was awarded the [[1953 Pulitzer Prize|1953 Fiction Prize]] for ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]''.
* 1957 Biography Prize: The purported writer of ''[[Profiles in Courage]]'', U.S. Senator [[John F. Kennedy]], was believed to have had most of the book for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in Biography [[ghostwriter|ghostwritten]] for him.<ref name=profilesincourage>{{cite book |last1=Walls |first1=Jeannette |title=Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip |year=2000|publisher=Avon Books, Inc., an Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers |location=New York |isbn=0-380-97821-0 |pages=29–35 }}</ref> Journalist [[Drew Pearson (journalist)|Drew Pearson]] claimed on an episode of ''[[The Mike Wallace Interview]]'' which aired in December 1957<ref>{{cite web|url=http://solstice.ischool.utexas.edu/tmwi/index.php/Drew_Pearson|title=Drew Pearson|publisher=[[Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center]], [[School of Information, University of Texas]]|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=February 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212161318/http://solstice.ischool.utexas.edu/tmwi/index.php/Drew_Pearson|url-status=dead}}</ref> that "John F. Kennedy is the only man in history that I know who won a Pulitzer Prize for a book that was ghostwritten for him" and that his speechwriter [[Ted Sorensen]] was the book's actual author, though his claim later was retracted by the show's network, [[ABC News (United States)|ABC]], after [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.|Kennedy's father]] threatened to sue.<ref name=profilesincourage /> [[Herbert Parmet]] also determined that the book was in fact mostly ghostwritten, writing in his 1980 book ''Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy'' that although Kennedy did oversee the production and provided for the direction and message of the book, it was in fact Sorensen who provided most of the work that went into the end product.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2478/did-john-f-kennedy-really-write-profiles-in-courage|title=Did John F. Kennedy really write 'Profiles in Courage?'|last=Adams|first=Cecil |author-link=Cecil Adams |date=November 7, 2003|publisher=[[The Straight Dope]]|access-date=December 19, 2009}}</ref> Sorenson himself would later admit in his 2008 autobiography, ''Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History'', that he did in fact write "a first draft of most of the chapters" and "helped choose the words of many of its sentences".<ref>{{cite news | title=Her Story, Their Words: Behind the Scenes of the Best-Sellers | date=June 11, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/who-wrote-that-political-memoir-no-who-actually-wrote-it/2014/06/09/8e89ccae-f00a-11e3-9ebc-2ee6f81ed217_story.html | title=Who wrote that political memoir? No, who wrote it? | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=June 9, 2014 | access-date=June 11, 2014 | author=Farhi, Paul}}</ref> In addition to the ghostwriting controversy, it was also determined two of the eight U.S. Senators profiled in the book, [[Edmund G. Ross]] and [[Lucius Lamar]], did not actually match what the book glorified them as.<ref>[[David O. Stewart|Stewart, David O.]] ''Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy''. Simon & Schuster, 2009, pp. 185–86, 188–89, 242, 269, 278–80, 282, 285, 292, 297–99, 309.</ref><ref>[[Nicholas Lemann]], ''Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War'' by Nicholas Lemann. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. New York. {{ISBN|978-0-374-53069-3}}. pp. 205–09.</ref>
* 1960 Fiction Prize: the jury committee recommended that the award be given to [[Saul Bellow]]'s ''[[Henderson the Rain King]]'', but the advisory board overrode that recommendation and awarded it to [[Allen Drury]]'s ''[[Advise and Consent]]''.<ref name="WSJ 2009">{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203706604574378842802585268 |title=At 50, a D.C. Novel With Legs |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |first=Scott |last=Simon |author-link=Scott Simon |date=September 2, 2009 |access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref><ref name="HP Classic">{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-simon/classic-politics-the-work_b_5403779.html |title=Classic Politics: The Works of Allen Drury Now Back in Print |first=Phil |last=Simon |author-link=Phil Simon |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |date=May 28, 2014 |access-date=January 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Heinz Dietrich |last1=Fischer |first2=Erika J. |last2=Fischer |title=Chronicle of the Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction |location=Munich |publisher=K.G. Saur |year=2007 |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/11/books/publishing-pulitzer-controversies.html |first=Edwin |last=McDowell |title=Publishing: Pulitzer Controversies |date=May 11, 1984 |access-date=August 20, 2011}}</ref>
* 1962 Biography Prize: ''Citizen Hearst: A Biography of [[William Randolph Hearst]]'' by [[W. A. Swanberg]] was recommended by the jury and advisory board but overturned by the trustees of [[Columbia University]] (then charged with final ratification of the prizes) because its subject, Hearst, was not an "eminent example of the biographer's art as specified in the prize definition."<ref>Hohenberg, John. ''The Pulitzer Diaries: Inside America's Greatest Prize''. 1997. p. 109.</ref>
* 1963 Drama Prize: ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' by [[Edward Albee]] was selected by the drama jury, but the award's advisory board objected to its profanity and sexual themes and overruled the jury, awarding no Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/article/snub-edward-albee |title=A snub of Edward Albee |publisher=Pulitzer Prize |access-date=January 22, 2025}}</ref>
* 1974 Fiction Prize: ''[[Gravity's Rainbow]]'' by [[Thomas Pynchon]] was recommended by the three-member fiction jury, but the advisory board overturned that decision and no award was given by the trustees.<ref>McDowell, Edwin. "Publishing: Pulitzer Controversies". ''The New York Times'', May 11, 1984: C26.</ref>
* Shortly after receiving a [[Special Citations and Awards|Special Citation]] for ''[[Roots: The Saga of an American Family]]'' in the spring of 1977, [[Alex Haley]] was charged with [[plagiarism]] in separate lawsuits by [[Harold Courlander]] and [[Margaret Walker Alexander]]. Courlander, an anthropologist and novelist, charged that ''Roots'' was copied largely from his novel ''[[The African (1967 novel)|The African]]'' (1967). Walker claimed that Haley had plagiarized from her [[American Civil War|Civil War]]–era novel ''[[Jubilee (novel)|Jubilee]]'' (1966). Legal proceedings in each case were concluded late in 1978. Courlander's suit was settled out of court for $650,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.650|1978|r=1}} million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) and an acknowledgment from Haley that certain passages within ''Roots'' were copied from ''The African''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fein|first=Esther B.|title=Book Notes|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00613FC3E580C708CDDAA0894DB494D81|date=March 3, 1993|access-date=February 12, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211024838/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00613FC3E580C708CDDAA0894DB494D81|archive-date=February 11, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Walker's case was dismissed by the court, which, in comparing the content of ''Roots'' with that of ''Jubilee'', found that "no actionable similarities exist between the works."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bLIvAAAAIBAJ&pg=4642,1207133|title=Judge Rules "Roots" Original|newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle|date=September 21, 1978|via=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=August 19, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215043039/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bLIvAAAAIBAJ&pg=4642%2C1207133|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3U8xAAAAIBAJ&pg=953,2772990|title=Suit against Alex Haley is dismissed|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|date=September 22, 1978|via=[[United Press International]]|access-date=August 19, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215043048/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3U8xAAAAIBAJ&pg=953%2C2772990|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1981 Feature Writing Prize: ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' staff writer [[Janet Cooke]] returned the award after an investigation by the newspaper found she fabricated her prize-winning story "Jimmy's World", a profile of an eight-year-old heroin addict in [[Washington, D.C.]]
* 1994 History Prize: [[Gerald Posner]]'s ''Case Closed: [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] and the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|Assassination of JFK]]'', [[Lawrence Friedman]]'s ''Crime and Punishment in American History'' and Joel Williamson's ''[[William Faulkner]] and Southern History'' were nominated unanimously for the award; however, no award was given.<ref>''Complete Historical Handbook of the Pulitzer Prize System 1917–2000: Decision-Making Processes in all Award Categories Based on Unpublished Sources'', by Heinz D. Fischer and Erika J. Fischer, The Pulitzer Prize Archive, Walter de Gruyer, 2003, p. 325</ref> The decision not to give an award to one of the three books created a public controversy. One of the 19 members of the Pulitzer Board, John Dotson, said that all of the three nominated books were "flawed in some way." But another board member, Edward Seaton, editor of ''[[The Manhattan Mercury]]'', disagreed, saying it was "unfortunate" that no award had been given.<ref>"Pulitzer Decision Angers Juror Ignoring Nominations, Panel Didn't Know History Prize", ''San Jose Mercury News'', April 23, 1994, p. 2B</ref>
* 2010 Drama Prize: The [[Tony Award|Tony-winning]] musical ''[[Next to Normal]]'' received the award<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mtishows.com/next-to-normal|title=Next to Normal|date=September 16, 2015|publisher=[[Music Theater International]]|access-date=May 12, 2019}}</ref> despite not having been among the jury-provided nominees.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theenvelope.latimes.com/la-et-pulitzer-mcnulty-20100413,0,3224899.story|title=Critic's Notebook: On this year's drama award, the Pulitzer board blew it|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 13, 2010|author=Charles McNulty|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415050116/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/la-et-pulitzer-mcnulty-20100413%2C0%2C3224899.story|archive-date=April 15, 2010|df=mdy-all}}<!--While an archive exists, it is unviewable due to robots.txt settings--></ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.playbill.com/features/article/138796-playbillcoms-theatre-week-in-review-april-10-april-16-the-pulitzer-paradox|title=Playbill.com's Theatre Week In Review, April 10-April 16: The Pulitzer Paradox|website=[[Playbill]]|date=April 16, 2010|first=Robert|last=Simonson|author-link=Robert Simonson|access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>
* 2020 Feature Photography Prize: The citation to [[Channi Anand]], [[Mukhtar Khan]] and [[Dar Yasin]] of the [[Associated Press]] caused controversy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/3-indian-photojournalists-from-j-k-win-pulitzer/story-hN3xlFniHQ9jBH7hk2gUHK.html|title=3 Indian photojournalists from Jammu and Kashmir win Pulitzer Prize|newspaper=[[Hindustan Times]]|language=en|date=May 6, 2020|first=Ashiq|last=Hussain|access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/kashmiri-pulitzer-prize-winners-caught-in-political-debate/1824727|title=Kashmiri Pulitzer Prize winners caught in political debate|magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|date=May 5, 2020|access-date=May 6, 2020|via=[[Indo-Asian News Service]] (IANS)}}</ref><ref name="auto8">{{cite web|title=Pulitzer Prize questions India's legitimacy over Kashmir|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/national/pulitzer-prize-questions-indias-legitimacy-over-kashmir|website=[[National Herald]]|date=May 5, 2020|language=en|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref> It was taken by some as questioning "[[India]]'s legitimacy over [[Kashmir]]" as it had used the word "independence" in regard to [[Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir|revocation of Article 370]].<ref name="auto8"/>
* 2020 Commentary Prize: An association of conservative scholars called for the revocation of [[Nikole Hannah-Jones]]' award for "[[The 1619 Project]]" after the ''New York Times'' substantially softened claims that the prime motivation behind the [[American Revolution]] was the preservation of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]], following public criticism from historians.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pulitzer Board Must Revoke Nikole Hannah-Jones' Prize by Peter Wood |url=https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/pulitzer-board-must-revoke-nikole-hannah-jones-prize |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=www.nas.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-12-20 |title=We Respond to the Historians Who Critiqued The 1619 Project |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/magazine/we-respond-to-the-historians-who-critiqued-the-1619-project.html |access-date=2023-12-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A [[Northwestern University|Northwestern]] history professor and fact-checker for the project, [[Leslie M. Harris|herself an African-American]], wrote that she told ''Times'' editors this assertion was inaccurate before the project was published.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Leslie M. |date=2020-03-06 |title=I Helped Fact-Check the 1619 Project. The Times Ignored Me. |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/06/1619-project-new-york-times-mistake-122248 |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>
* 2020 International Reporting Prize: Russian journalist [[Roman Badanin]], editor-in-chief of independent Russian media outlet [[Proekt]] (Project), said that at least two ''New York Times'' articles in the entry repeated findings of Proekt's articles published a few months before.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/05/russia-slams-nyt-for-russophobia-following-pulitzer-prize-win-a70187|title=Russia Slams NYT for 'Russophobia' Following Pulitzer Prize Win|newspaper=[[The Moscow Times]]|date=May 5, 2020}}</ref>
* 2024: Writers, including Pulitzer Prize winners, joined a boycott of the Israeli publishing industry by signing a letter published on October 28. The letter describes the "deepest moral, political, and cultural crisis of the 21st century" within the publishing industry, and is signed by over a thousand writers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Walfisz |first1=Jonny |title=1,000 signatories in largest boycott of Israeli publishing industry |url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/10/30/1000-signatories-in-largest-boycott-of-israeli-publishing-industry |website=euronews |date=October 30, 2024 |access-date=November 10, 2024}}</ref>