Pulitzer Prize for Public Service

The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources, which may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics, video and other online material, and may be presented in print or online or both.

The Public Service prize was one of the original Pulitzers, established in 1917, but no award was given that year. It is the only prize in the program that awards a gold medal and is the most prestigious one for a newspaper to win.

As with other Pulitzer Prizes, a committee of jurors narrows the field to three nominees, from which the Pulitzer Board generally picks a winner and finalists. Finalists have been made public since 1980. The Pulitzer Board issues an official citation explaining the reason for the award.

In its first 97 years to 2013, the Public Service Pulitzer was awarded 96 times. There were four years for which no award was given, and two prizes were awarded in the years 1967, 1990, and 2006. In 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955 and 1959, prizes were awarded to two newspapers. A reporter (rather than a publication) was first named in 1947; recently that has been more common and as many as three reporters have been named.

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