The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality. Finalists have been announced from 1980, ordinarily two others beside the winner.

Winners and citations

In its first 35 years to 2013, the Feature Writing Pulitzer was awarded 34 times; none was given in 2004 and 2014, and it was never split. Gene Weingarten alone won it twice, in 2008 and 2010. * 1979:

Jon D. Franklin Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Baltimore Evening Sun'', for
Mrs. Kelly's Monster
, "an account of brain surgery." * 1980: Madeleine Blais, '' Miami Herald'', "for
Zepp's Last Stand
'" * 1981:

Teresa Carpenter Teresa Carpenter (born 1948) is an American author. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for best feature writing. Biography Teresa Carpenter was born in Independence, Missouri. She lives with her husband Steven Levy in New York's Greenwich Vil ...

, ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'', fo
Death of a Playmate
"her account of the death of actress-model Dorothy Stratten." (The prize in this category was originally awarded to

Janet Cooke Janet Leslie Cooke (born July 23, 1954) is an American former journalist. She received a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for an article written for '' The Washington Post''. The story was later discovered to have been fabricated and Cooke returned the Pul ...

of ''The Washington Post'', but was revoked after it was revealed that her winning story about an 8-year-old heroin addict was fabricated.)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 The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

, "for an article profiling the federal bureaucracy." * 1983: Nan C. Robertson, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', fo
Toxic Shock
"her memorable and medically detailed account of her struggle with toxic shock syndrome." * 1984: Peter Mark Rinearson, ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington s ...

'', "for
Making It Fly
' his 29,000-word account of the development, manufacture, and marketing of the new Boeing 757" jetliner. * 1985:

Alice Steinbach Alice Steinbach (October 10, 1933 – March 13, 2012) was an American journalist and author who won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for her feature for ''The Baltimore Sun'' ''A Boy of Unusual Vision'', which describes the experience ...

, ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'', "for her account of a blind boy's world,
A Boy of Unusual Vision
'" * 1986: John Camp, '' St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch'', fo
Life on the Land
"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 ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

'', "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, ''

'', "for his richly compelling series, 'Being Black in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

.'" * 1990:

Dave Curtin Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

, '' 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 Sheryl Teresa James (born October 7, 1951) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1991 for a series she wrote in the ''St. Petersburg Times'' about a mother who deserted her baby''.'' ...

, '' 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, ''

'', "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. George Edmund Lardner Jr. (August 10, 1934 – September 21, 2019) was an American journalist for ''The Washington Post'' who won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is one of the fourteen American Puli ...

, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', "for his unflinching examination of his daughter's murder by a violent man who had slipped through the criminal justice system." * 1994: Isabel Wilkerson, ''

'', "for her profile of a fourth-grader from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's South Side and for two stories reporting on the Midwestern flood of 1993." * 1995: Ron Suskind, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', "for his stories about inner-city honor students in Washington, D.C., and their determination to survive and prosper." These articles would later become his first book "

A Hope in the Unseen ''A Hope in the Unseen'' (Full Title "A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League") is the first book by author and journalist Ron Suskind, published in 1998. The book is a biographical novel about the life of ...

" * 1996: Rick Bragg, ''

'', "for his elegantly written stories about contemporary America." * 1997:

Lisa Pollak Lisa Pollak (born c. 1970) is an American journalist and author. She won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. She published her first professional newspaper article in 1985 as a high school student in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, an acco ...

, ''

'', "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 Thomas M. French (born January 3, 1958) is an American writer and journalist. Personal details Thomas M. French was born Jan. 3, 1958 to Hans and Katherine (née Darst) French in Columbus, Ohio and was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. While at ...

, '' 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 Angelo B. Henderson (c. 1962 – February 15, 2014) was an American journalist, radio broadcaster and minister from Detroit, MI. In 1999, Henderson won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Feature Writing. Henderson remains the only African Ame ...

, ''

'', "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 The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', fo
Crossing Over
"his portrait of Gee's Bend, an isolated river community in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

where many descendants of slaves live, and how a proposed ferry to the mainland might change it." * 2001: Tom Hallman, Jr., ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'' (

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

), "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, ''

'', fo
A Father's Pain, a Judge's Duty, and a Justice Beyond Their Reach
"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, ''

'', "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 Julia Keller is an American writer and former journalist. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Life Keller was born in Huntington, West Virginia and lived there throughout her early life. Her father was a mathematics professo ...

of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', "for her gripping, meticulously reconstructed account of a deadly 10-second tornado that ripped through Utica, Ill." * 2006:

Jim Sheeler Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim'' ...

of '' Rocky Mountain News'', "for his poignant story on a Marine major who helps the families of comrades killed in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

cope with their loss and honor their sacrifice." * 2007: Andrea Elliott of ''

'', for
Muslims in America Series
' "her intimate, richly textured portrait of an immigrant

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, se ...

striving to find his way and serve his faithful in America." * 2008: Gene Weingarten of ''

'', for
Pearls Before Breakfast
' "his chronicling of a world-class violinist who, as an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station filled with unheeding commuters." * 2009:

Lane DeGregory Lane DeGregory is an American journalist who works for the ''Tampa Bay Times''—St. Petersburg Times. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2009, recognizing "The Girl In the Window" (August 3, 2008)—"her moving, richly detailed stor ...

of '' St. Petersburg Times'', for
The Girl in the Window
' "her moving, richly detailed story of a neglected little girl, found in a roach-infested room, unable to talk or feed herself, who was adopted by a new family committed to her nurturing." * 2010: Gene Weingarten of ''

'', for
Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
' "his haunting story about parents, from varying walks of life, who accidentally kill their children by forgetting them in cars." * 2011: Amy Ellis Nutt of the '' Newark Star-Ledger'', for
The Wreck of the Lady Mary
' "her deeply probing story of the mysterious sinking of a commercial fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean that drowned six men." * 2012: Eli Sanders of '' The Stranger'' (

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

) for
The Bravest Woman in Seattle
' "his haunting story of a woman who survived a brutal attack that took the life of her partner." * 2013: John Branch of ''

'', fo
'Snow Fall'
an "evocative narrative about skiers killed in an avalanche and the science that explains such disasters" and the integration of multimedia elements. * 2014: ''not awarded'' * 2015: Diana Marcum of the ''

'' fo
Scenes from California's Dust Bowl
"her dispatches from California's Central Valley offering nuanced portraits of lives affected by the state’s drought, bringing an original and empathic perspective to the story." * 2016:

Kathryn Schulz Kathryn Schulz is an American journalist and author. She is a staff writer at ''The New Yorker''. In 2016, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for her article on the risk of a major earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific Northwest. B ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' fo
The Really Big One
"an elegant scientific narrative of the rupturing of the Cascadia fault line, a masterwork of environmental reporting and writing." * 2017:

C. J. Chivers Christopher John Chivers (born 1964) is an American journalist and author best known for his work with ''The New York Times'' and ''Esquire'' magazine. He is currently assigned to ''The New York Times Magazine'' and the newspaper's Investigations ...

of ''

'' for
The Fighter
' "showing, through an artful accumulation of fact and detail, that a Marine's postwar descent into violence reflected neither the actions of a simple criminal nor a stereotypical case of

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

." * 2018:

Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah (born 1982) is an American essayist. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2018 for her profile of white supremacist and mass murderer Dylann Roof, as well as a National Magazine Award. She was also a National M ...

, freelance reporter, GQ, for "an unforgettable portrait of murderer

Dylann Roof Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and mass murderer convicted of perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. During a Bible study at Ema ...

, using a unique and powerful mix of reportage, first-person reflection and analysis of the historical and cultural forces behind his killing of nine people inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C." *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Hannah Dreier Hannah Dreier is an American journalist. She is a ''New York Times'' reporter who specializes in narrative features and investigations. She previously worked at ProPublica, where she was the recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writi ...

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010 ...

for a series of powerful, intimate narratives that followed Salvadoran immigrants on New York’s Long Island whose lives were shattered by a botched federal crackdown on the international criminal gang

MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Ang ...

. *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

Ben Taub Ben Taub (1889–1982) was a philanthropist and medical benefactor in Houston, Texas. Taub ran numerous businesses and served on the boards of directors for several Texas organizations. He helped in the expansion and development of Houston entitie ...

of ''

'' for "a devastating account of

a man ''A Man'' (1979) ( it, Un Uomo) ( el, Ένας Άνδρας, transliteration: ''Enas Andras'') is a novel written by Oriana Fallaci chronicling her relationship with the attempted assassin of Greek dictator George Papadopoulos. The book is a ps ...

who was kidnapped, tortured and deprived of his liberty for more than a decade at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, blending on-the-ground reporting and lyrical prose to offer a nuanced perspective on America's wider war on terror." (Moved into contention by the Board.) *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Mitchell S. Jackson Mitchell S. Jackson is an American writer. He is the author of the 2013 novel ''The Residue Years'', as well as ''Oversoul'' (2012), an ebook collection of essays and short stories. Jackson is a Whiting Award recipient and a former winner of th ...

, freelance contributor for ''

Runner's World ''Runner's World'' is a globally circulated monthly magazine for runners of all skills sets, published by Hearst in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Before its acquisition by Hearst, it was founded and published by Rodale, Inc. in E ...

'', "for a deeply affecting account of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery that combined vivid writing, thorough reporting and personal experience to shed light on systemic racism in America." *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

: Jennifer Senior of ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', "For an unflinching portrait of a family’s reckoning with loss in the 20 years since 9/11, masterfully braiding the author's personal connection to the story with sensitive reporting that reveals the long reach of grief."

References

{{Reflist , refs= "Feature Writing"
The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 2013-12-26. Feature Writing Awards established in 1979