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Finalist: The Washington Post , by Philip Kennicott

For his ambitious and insightful cultural criticism, taking on topical events from the uprisings in Egypt to the dedication of the Ground Zero memorial, causing readers to reflect on the world around them.

Winners

Prize Winner in Criticism in 2012:

Wesley Morris

For his smart, inventive film criticism, distinguished by pinpoint prose and an easy traverse between the art house and the big-screen box office. Criticism

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Criticism in 2012:

Tobi Tobias

For work that reveals passion as well as deep historical knowledge of dance, her well-expressed arguments coming from the heart as well as the head.

The Jury

Julia Keller(chair )*

cultural critic

Mark Feeney*

arts writer

David Hajdu

music critic, The New Republic and associate professor of arts and culture, Graduate School of Journalism

Douglas McLennan

editor

Dan Neil*

senior editor and columnist

Winners in Criticism

Sebastian Smee

For his vivid and exuberant writing about art, often bringing great works to life with love and appreciation.

Sarah Kaufman

For her refreshingly imaginative approach to dance criticism, illuminating a range of issues and topics with provocative comments and original insights.

Holland Cotter

For his wide ranging reviews of art, from Manhattan to China, marked by acute observation, luminous writing and dramatic storytelling.

Mark Feeney

For his penetrating and versatile command of the visual arts, from film and photography to painting.

2012 Prize Winners

Manning Marable

An exploration of the legendary life and provocative views of one of the most significant African-Americans in U.S. history, a work that separates fact from fiction and blends the heroic and tragic.

John Lewis Gaddis

An engaging portrait of a globetrotting diplomat whose complicated life was interwoven with the Cold War and America's emergence as the world's dominant power.

Tracy K. Smith

A collection of bold, skillful poems, taking readers into the universe and moving them to an authentic mix of joy and pain.