Pulitzer Prize for Commentary - Definition and Overview

The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary has been awarded since 1970. List of winners:

• 1970: Marquis W. Childs, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, distinguished commentary during 1969.
• 1971: William A. Caldwell, Record, Hackensack, New Jersey, for his commentary in his daily column.
• 1972: Mike Royko, Chicago Daily News, for his columns during 1971.
• 1973: David S. Broder, Washington Post, for his columns during 1972.
• 1974: Edwin A. Roberts Jr., National Observer, for his commentary on public affairs during 1973.
• 1975: Mary McGrory, Washington Star, for her commentary on public affairs during 1974.
• 1976: Walter Wellesley (Red) Smith, New York Times, for his commentary on sports in 1975 and for many other years.
• 1977: George F. Will, Washington Post Writers Group, for distinguished commentary on a variety of topics.
• 1978: William Safire, New York Times, for commentary on the Bert Lance affair.
• 1979: Russell Baker, New York Times
• 1980: Ellen H. Goodman, Boston Globe
• 1981: Dave Anderson, New York Times, for his commentary on sports.
• 1982: Art Buchwald, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
• 1983: Claude Sitton, Raleigh (N. C.) News & Observer,
• 1984: Vermont Royster, Wall Street Journal,
• 1985: Murray Kempton, Newsday, Long Island, N.Y., for witty and insightful reflection on public issues in 1984 and throughout a distinguished career.
• 1986: Jimmy Breslin, New York Daily News, for columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens
• 1987: Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post Writers Group, for his witty and insightful columns on national issues.
• 1988: Dave Barry, Miami Herald, for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns.
• 1989: Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, for his provocative columns on local and national affairs.
• 1990: Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, for his sports columns.
• 1991: Jim Hoagland, Washington Post, for searching and prescient columns on events leading up to the Gulf War and on the political problems of Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1992: Anna Quindlen, New York Times, for her compelling columns on a wide range of personal and political topics.
• 1993: Liz Balmaseda, Miami Herald, for her commentary from Haiti about deteriorating political and social conditions and her columns about Cuban-Americans in Miami.
• 1994: William Raspberry, Washington Post, for his compelling commentaries on a variety of social and political topics.
• 1995: Jim Dwyer, Newsday, Long Island, N.Y., for his compelling and compassionate columns about New York City.
• 1996: E.R. Shipp, New York Daily News, for her penetrating columns on race, welfare and other social issues.
• 1997: Eileen McNamara, Boston Globe, for her many-sided columns on Massachusetts people and issues.
• 1998: Mike McAlary, New York Daily News, for reporting on the brutalization of a Haitian immigrant by police officers at a Brooklyn stationhouse.
• 1999: Maureen Dowd, New York Times, for her fresh and insightful columns on the impact of President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
• 2000: Paul A. Gigot, Wall Street Journal, for his informative and insightful columns on politics and government.
• 2001: Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall Street Journal, for her articles on American society and culture.
• 2002: Thomas Friedman, New York Times, for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat.
• 2003: Colbert I. King, Washington Post, for his against-the-grain columns that speak to people in power with ferocity and wisdom.
• 2004: Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald, for his fresh, vibrant columns that spoke, with both passion and compassion, to ordinary people on often divisive issues.