For a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation, using any available journalistic tool, Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).
Staff of Quanta Magazine, New York, N.Y., notably Natalie Wolchover
For coverage that revealed the complexities of building the James Webb Space Telescope, designed to facilitate groundbreaking astronomical and cosmological research.
Natalie Wolchover and Editor in Chief Thomas Lin accept the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger. (Eileen Barroso/Columbia University)
Winning Work
December 3, 2021
December 3, 2021
Biography
Natalie Wolchover is a senior editor at Quanta Magazine covering the physical sciences. She also has bylines in Nature, NewYorker.com, Popular Science and other publications. She has a bachelor’s in physics from Tufts University, studied graduate-level physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-authored several academic papers in nonlinear optics. Her writing has been featured in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best Writing on Mathematics and has won several awards, including the 2016 Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award and the American Institute of Physics’ 2017 Science Communication Award for Articles.
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Explanatory Reporting in 2022:
Staff of The Philadelphia Inquirer
For a richly reported series that, with compelling writing and photography, tackled the complex roots of gun violence in the city, centering on the people and communities most affected by it.
Staff of The Wall Street Journal
For stories that vividly reconstructed the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and illuminated its enduring effects, describing how the destruction of Black wealth and property burdened future generations.
The Jury
The Jury
T. Christian Miller(Chair)*
Senior Editor, ProPublica
Rick Berke
Co-Founder and Executive Editor, STAT
Steve Duenes
Deputy Managing Editor, The New York Times
Marc Duvoisin
Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, San Antonio Express-News
Stacy-Marie Ishmael
Managing Editor, Crypto, Bloomberg News
Jonnelle Marte
Economics Reporter, Reuters
Karen Miller Pensiero
Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Winners in Explanatory Reporting
Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters
For an exhaustive examination, powered by a pioneering data analysis of U.S. federal court cases, of the obscure legal doctrine of “qualified immunity” and how it shields police who use excessive force from prosecution.
Staff of The Washington Post
For a groundbreaking series that showed with scientific clarity the dire effects of extreme temperatures on the planet.
David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner of The New York Times
For an exhaustive 18-month investigation of President Donald Trump’s finances that debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges. (Moved by the Board from the Investigative Reporting category, where it was also entered.)
Staffs of The Arizona Republic and USA Today Network
For vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
2022 Prize Winners
Salamishah Tillet, contributing critic at large, The New York Times
For learned and stylish writing about Black stories in art and popular culture–work that successfully bridges academic and nonacademic critical discourse.
Lisa Falkenberg, Michael Lindenberger, Joe Holley and Luis Carrasco of the Houston Chronicle
For a campaign that, with original reporting, revealed voter suppression tactics, rejected the myth of widespread voter fraud and argued for sensible voting reforms.
Melinda Henneberger of The Kansas City Star
For persuasive columns demanding justice for alleged victims of a retired police detective accused of being a sexual predator.
Jennifer Senior of The Atlantic
For an unflinching portrait of a family’s reckoning with loss in the 20 years since 9/11, masterfully braiding the author's personal connection to the story with sensitive reporting that reveals the long reach of grief.