FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Marjorie Miller, Administrator, The Pulitzer Prizes
[email protected] or 212-854-3841
New York, NY (January 26, 2026) — Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of The Associated Press, and Vijay Iyer, a composer, pianist and professor at Harvard University, have been elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board, the Pulitzer Prize Administrator’s Office announced today.
Pace and Iyer are widely honored leaders in journalism and the arts whose work reflects the enduring commitment of The Pulitzer Prizes to excellence, independence and innovation in journalism, arts and letters.
“We are thrilled to have Julie Pace and Vijay Iyer join the Pulitzer Board at this pivotal time. They bring a wealth of experience and expertise from their respective fields, and will be important voices as we make difficult decisions about the marquee work that is being produced in journalism and arts and letters,” said Nancy Barnes, co-chair of the Pulitzer Board and editor-at-large of The Boston Globe.
Pace is senior vice president and executive editor of The Associated Press, where she oversees global news coverage from more than 100 countries. Since assuming the role in 2021, she has led a significant expansion of AP’s digital and direct-to-consumer platforms and guided the organization’s responsible use of artificial intelligence, while maintaining its longstanding commitment to eyewitness, fact-based and nonpartisan journalism. During her tenure, the AP has been awarded three Pulitzer Prizes and produced an Academy Award- and BAFTA-winning documentary on the war in Ukraine.
Previously, Pace served as AP’s Washington bureau chief, directing coverage of the presidency, politics and the U.S. government during President Donald Trump’s first term, and earlier as a White House correspondent. A native of Buffalo, New York, she joined the AP in 2007 after beginning her journalism career reporting in South Africa and Florida. Pace is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. She lives in New York City.
“The Pulitzer Prizes play a vital role not only in recognizing the best of journalism, arts and letters, but also in highlighting the value of this work to society,” Pace said. “I am honored by the opportunity to serve on the board and help carry forward this mission.”
Iyer is an influential composer, pianist and scholar in jazz and contemporary art music. Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” Iyer has released more than two dozen albums and earned international acclaim for his innovative body of work. His musical influences include Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, as well as the rhythmic traditions of South Asia and West Africa and the Black creative music movement of the 60s and 70s.
Iyer also has written extensively for leading classical ensembles and soloists worldwide and has served in prominent artistic leadership roles, including as music director of the Ojai Music Festival and composer-in-residence at London’s Wigmore Hall.
After receiving his undergraduate degree in mathematics and physics from Yale University in 1992, Iyer assembled an interdisciplinary doctoral program in technology and the arts at the University of California, Berkeley. His scholarship has been published in such journals as Jazz and Culture, the Journal of Consciousness Studies and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship and multiple Grammy nominations.
A Steinway artist, Iyer is the tenured Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies. He lives in New York City.
“The Pulitzer Prizes have always upheld the highest standards of integrity, a quality that especially matters at this moment in our history,” Iyer said.
“I think the name has rung in my ears since I saw the Superman movies as a kid! And the music and literature prizes have long held a special significance for me as a reliable mark of true artistry, from Ornette Coleman, Anthony Davis, and Henry Threadgill to Toni Morrison, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Percival Everett. I'm honored to have this chance to celebrate and learn from the artists and writers shaping our world,” he said.
The Pulitzer Prizes, which are administered at Columbia University, were established by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American journalist and newspaper publisher, who left money to Columbia University upon his death in 1911. A portion of his bequest was used to found the School of Journalism in 1912 and establish the Pulitzer Prizes, which were first awarded in 1917.
The 20-member board is composed of leading journalists, news executives from media outlets across the U.S. and the president of Columbia University, as well as five academics or persons in the arts. The dean of Columbia's journalism school and the administrator of the prizes are non-voting members. The chair rotates to the most senior member or members. The board is self-perpetuating in the election of members. Voting members may serve three terms of three years for a total of nine years.