Pulitzer Prize (Arkansas Recipients and Nominees)

The Pulitzer Prize is awarded annually in American journalism, literature, and music composition. It was named for newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer and has been awarded since 1917. Prizes are given from twenty-one possible categories, but not all categories are awarded every year. Winning comes with considerable prestige as well as a $10,000 prize for twenty of the categories and a gold medal for the Public Service category in journalism. There is a $50 entry fee, and works may be entered in up to two categories for consideration. The nominees are selected by 102 judges serving on twenty juries who select three nominees per category. The judges and the final winners are chosen by the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Aside from prize winners and nominees (listed in the tables below), a few additional Arkansans or other Arkansas-related works have connections to the Pulitzers. William F. McIlwain, who was editor of the Arkansas Gazette, was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1981 to 1982. Little Rock (Pulaski County) journalist and author Paul Greenberg served as a jurist from 1984 to 1985 (and was also a finalist in 1986). Maria Henson served as a jurist in 1994, 1995, and 2000 and the chair jurist in 1999 after her win in 1992.

There are a few other loose Pulitzer connections to the state. Albert Paine, author of The Arkansaw Bear: A Tale of Fanciful Adventure, served on Pulitzer Prize committees for many years. Marc Connelly won the 1930 Pulitzer for drama with his play Green Pastures, based on the 1928 novel Ol’ Man Adam an’ His Chillun by Roark Bradford, who briefly lived near Cabot (Lonoke County). Famed author Ernest Hemingway lived in Piggott (Clay County) with his wife Pauline Pfeiffer in the late 1920s, working on A Farewell to Arms in a small barn on the property of what is now the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum; he won the Pulitzer in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea.

Arkansas-Connected Winners (by year)

Arkansas-Connected Nominees and Finalists (by year)

For additional information:
The Pulitzer Prizes http://www.pulitzer.org/ (accessed May 25, 2023).

Schnedler, Jack. “The Pulitzers That Got Away.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 2, 2021, p. 2H.

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas