On Saturday, June 25, the 2020 and 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners gathered to receive their awards at an afternoon ceremony and reception at Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger; 2018-2020 Pulitzer Prize Board Co-Chair Steven Hahn; 2020-2021 Co-Chairs Stephen Engelberg and Aminda (Mindy) Marqués González; and Pulitzer Prize Administrator Marjorie Miller presided.
The event marked the first in-person presentation of the awards since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted quotidian life in early 2020. "It's like life goes on as normal now as if nothing happened," said Bollinger in his remarks. "But, of course, it was deeply disruptive and so it was both that feeling of regaining the past and moving on to future."
A full list of winners is available here, while a gallery of photos from the ceremony and reception may be found below. Acceptance photos (contingent on availability) may be seen on winners' pages.
Seating for the ceremony included the "Blue Book" (containing a full list of Pulitzer winners and finalists), an event program and a commemorative Pulitzer-branded fan. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Award certificates are positioned for disbursement on the dais. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Administrator Marjorie Miller welcomes attendees. Miller was appointed to the role in April. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes).
The crowd looks on as Miller speaks. (Bud Kliment/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger addresses attendees. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
2018-2020 Co-Chair Steven Hahn (right), 2020-2021 Co-Chair Stephen Engelberg (left) and Pulitzer Prize Board member Nicole Carroll (center) confer as guests are seated. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Hahn and 2020-2021 Co-Chair Aminda Marqués González announce the categories for the 2020 recipients. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Engelberg and Marqués announce the categories for the 2021 recipients. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Following the ceremony, the full complement of contributors to Reuters' 2020 Breaking News Photography Prize-winning coverage of the 2019 Hong Kong protests posed for a group shot. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Following the ceremony, the full complement of contributors to The Associated Press' 2021 Breaking News Photography Prize-winning coverage of the 2020 George Floyd protests posed for a group shot with 2020 Feature Photography winner (and fellow AP photojournalist) Emilio Morenatti (center). (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
The 2020 winners. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
The 2021 winners. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
2020 Poetry winner Jericho Brown (left) and 2021 Poetry winner Natalie Diaz pose after the ceremony. (Jeff Shotts/Twitter)
New York Times Executive Editor Joseph F. Kahn (left) and former Executive Editor Dean Baquet (right) pose with David D. Kirkpatrick (center), a longtime investigative reporter at the newspaper who was a bylined contributor to its 2020 International Reporting Prize-winning coverage of the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime and its 2021 Public Service Prize-winning coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Reception guests (including past Pulitzer juror and Seattle Times Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores [center next to ledge; seated]) mingle on the Faculty House balcony. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
2020 Biography winner Benjamin Moser (from left), Willing Davidson, 2020 Feature Writing winner Ben Taub and New Yorker Deputy Editor Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn pose at the reception. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
2020 Drama winner Michael R. Jackson (left) chats with Brown (center) and poet-essayist-playwright Claudia Rankine (right) at the ensuing reception, which was held at Columbia University's Faculty House. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Reception guests (including 2020 Editorial Writing winner Jeffery Gerritt [center foreground; in pinstripe suit]) mingle on the Faculty House balcony. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
2021 Local Reporting winners Kathleen McGrory (center) and Neil Bedi (center-left) of the Tampa Bay Times pose with Executive Editor Mark Katches (center-right), former Investigations Editor Adam Playford (right) and guest Katie Shepherd (left). (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Los Angeles Times affiliates (from left: 2021 Editorial Writing winner Robert Greene; Executive Editor and Pulitzer Prize Board member Kevin Merida; Managing Editor Sara Yasin; 2020 Criticism winner Christopher Knight; 2020 Audio Reporting winner Molly O'Toole; and Assistant Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief Kimbriell Kelly) pose at the reception. (Kevin Merida/Twitter)