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The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Criticism

Finalist: Jill Lepore of The New Yorker

For critical, yet restrained, explorations of incredibly varied subjects, from Frankenstein to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that combined literary nuance with intellectual rigor.

Nominated Work

February 12, 2018
It's Still Alive
March 26, 2018
The Shorebird
October 8, 2018
Misjudged

Biography

Jill Lepore, a staff writer, has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2005. Her books include “The Name of War,” which won the Bancroft Prize; “New York Burning,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history; “The Story of America,” which was short-listed for the PEN Literary Award for the Art of the Essay; “Book of Ages,” a finalist for the National Book Award; and “The Secret History of Wonder Woman.” Her latest book, “These Truths: A History of the United States,” came out in September, 2018. Lepore received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale in 1995 and is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University. In 2012, she was named a Harvard College Professor, in recognition of distinction in undergraduate teaching.

 

Winners

Prize Winner in Criticism in 2019:

Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post

For trenchant and searching reviews and essays that joined warm emotion and careful analysis in examining a broad range of books addressing government and the American experience. Criticism

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Criticism in 2019:

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times

For authoritative film criticism that considered the impact of movies both inside the theater and in the wider world with rare passion, craftsmanship and insight.

The Jury

Mark Feeney(Chair)*

Arts Writer

Lauren Gustus

Editor, The Sacramento Bee; West Regional Editor, McClatchy

Lydia Polgreen

Editor-in-Chief

Alisa Solomon

Professor of Journalism; Director, Arts Concentration, MA Journalism Program

Joe Stephens

Director, Program in Journalism; Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence

Winners in Criticism

2018

Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine

For a robust body of work that conveyed a canny and often daring perspective on visual art in America, encompassing the personal, the political, the pure and the profane.
2017

Hilton Als

For bold and original reviews that strove to put stage dramas within a real-world cultural context, particularly the shifting landscape of gender, sexuality and race.
2016

Emily Nussbaum

For television reviews written with an affection that never blunts the shrewdness of her analysis or the easy authority of her writing.
2015

Mary McNamara

For savvy criticism that uses shrewdness, humor and an insider's view to show how both subtle and seismic shifts in the cultural landscape affect television.
See All Criticism

2019 Prize Winners

See All 2019 Winners