The Columbia University in New York, which oversees the Pulitzer Prizes, gained prominence this year as a result of student protests against the Gaza War. The prizes for excellence in literary and journalistic works were given out by the Pulitzer board. ProPublica and The New York Times, as well as writers Jonathan Eig and Jayne Anne Phillips, are among this year’s honorees.

The awards, which are given out in eight arts categories that include theatre, music, and books in addition to 15 journalistic categories, honour outstanding achievements to investigative reporting, public service, feature photography, and more.

The most prestigious honour, the Public Service award, comes with a gold medal, while other winners get $15,000 for their outstanding work.

The Pulitzer Prizes of this year featured a noteworthy occasion when The Associated Press was recognised for its striking feature photography that depicted the voyage of global migrants from South America to the United States. In a similar vein, Reuters and The New York Times were recognised for their comprehensive reporting on the October 7th fighting between Hamas and Israel and its aftermath.

With its groundbreaking research that “pierced the thick wall of secrecy” around the US Supreme Court and revealed how millionaires gave justices travel and other favours, ProPublica won the Public Service award. Additionally, the late hip-hop critic Greg Tate and journalists covering the Gaza War were given special accolades.

The New York Times team received praise for their thorough reporting of the October 7th Hamas strike, which included an analysis of intelligence lapses and Israel’s reaction in Gaza.

In addition, Hannah Dreier of The Times won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for her reports on child employment by migrants across the country. Katie Engelhart was also awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her report on a family dealing with a matriarch’s dementia.

The Washington Post was honoured for its photojournalistic and analytical national reporting on the AR-15 semiautomatic firearm. The Post’s editorial series on authoritarian repression in the internet era by David E. Hoffman was also recognised with a Pulitzer Prize.

In the literary realm, Jayne Anne Phillips’ “Night Watch,” a gripping mother-daughter saga set in a West Virginia asylum after the civil war, received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Eboni Booth’s “Primary Trust,” a gripping account of a bookshop employee’s unexpected journey following his job loss, took home the drama prize.

The winner of the general nonfiction category was Nathan Thrall’s A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, while Jacqueline Jones’ No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era took home the history medal.

The winning piece of music was Tyshawn Sorey’s saxophone concerto, Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith).