2008 PULITZER PRIZES WINNERS AND FINALISTS

JOURNALISM



PUBLIC SERVICE
Washington Post for the work of Dana Priest, Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille in exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials.
FINALISTS The Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer for reporting on the effects of the mortgage crisis; Newsday of Long Island for investigation of dangerous gaps on railroad platforms.

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
STAFF OF WASHINGTON POST for its exceptional, multi-faceted coverage of the deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, telling the developing story in print and online.
FINALISTSThe (Boise) Idaho Statesman staff for its coverage of the Sen Larry Craig scandal; The New York Times staff for coverage of a fire in the Bronx that killed nine people, eight of them children.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
WALT BOGDANICH AND JAKE HOOKER of The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune staff. Bogdanich and Hooker won for their stories on toxic ingredients in medicine and other everyday products imported from China, leading to crackdowns by American and Chinese officials. The Chicago Tribune won for exposing faulty regulation of toys, car seats and cribs resulting in the extensive recall of hazardous products and congressional action to tighten supervision.
FINALISTS Miles Moffeit and Susan Greene of The Denver Post for reports on the destruction of evidence in criminal cases.

EXPLANATORY REPORTING
AMY HARMON of New York Times for her striking examination of the dilemmas and ethical issues that accompany DNA testing, using human stories to sharpen her reports.
FINALISTS Beth Daley of The Boston Globe for coverage of how global warming affects New England residents; the staff of The Oregonian in Portland for reports on a breakthrough in producing microprocessors.

LOCAL REPORTING
DAVID UMHOEFER of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for his stories on the skirting of tax laws to pad pensions of county employees, prompting change and possible prosecution of key figures.
FINALISTS Chris Davis, Matthew Doig and Tiffany Lankes of the Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune for exposing predatory teachers; Jeff Pillets, John Brennan and Tim Nostrand of The Record, Hackensack, New Jersey, for a probe of favoritism and questionable state loans in a plan to build luxury housing on old landfills.

NATIONAL REPORTING
JO BECKER AND BARTON GELLMAN of Washington Post for their lucid exploration of Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful yet sometimes disguised influence on national policy.
FINALISTS The New York Times staff for stories about CIA interrogation techniques criticized as torture; Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune for his examination of racial issues in America.

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING
STEVE FAINARU of Washington Post for his heavily reported series on private security contractors in Iraq that operate outside most of the laws governing American forces.
FINALISTS The New York Times staff for coverage of the US military's efforts to reduce sectarian violence in Iraq; The Wall Street Journal staff for reports on the dismantling of democracy in Russia under Vladimir Putin.

FEATURE WRITING
GENE WEINGARTEN of Washington Post for his chronicling of a world-class violinist who, as an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station filled with unheeding commuters.
FINALISTS Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times for an account of a grizzly bear attack and the recovery of the two victims; Kevin Vaughan of theRocky Mountain News, Denver, for a retelling of a school bus-train accident that killed 20 children in 1961.

COMMENTARY
STEVEN PEARLSTEIN of Washington Post for his insightful columns that explore the nation’s complex economic ills with masterful clarity.
FINALISTS Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, for columns on alienated teenagers in a dangerous city neighborhood; John Kass of the Chicago Tribune for columns on the abuse of local political power and other topics.

CRITICISM
MARK FEENEY of The Boston Globe For his penetrating and versatile command of the visual arts, from film and photography to painting.
FINALISTS Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post for movie reviews and essays; Inga Saffron of The Philadelphia Inquirer for architecture critiques.

EDITORIAL WRITING
No award.
FINALISTS Maureen Downey of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for editorials on harsh sentences for consensual sex by teenagers; Rodger Jones of The Dallas Morning News for editorials calling for mandatory roll call votes on statewide legislation; the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal staff for a campaign against abuses in the governor's veto power.

EDITORIAL CARTOONING
MICHAEL RAMIREZ of Investor's Business Daily for his provocative cartoons that rely on originality, humor and detailed artistry.
FINALISTS Tom Batiuk of King Features for a sequence in Funky Winkerbean portraying a woman's struggle with breast cancer; and Clay Bennett of The Christian Science Monitor for cartoons "marked by sharp focus and pungent simplicity."

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
ADREES LATIF of Reuters for his dramatic photograph of a Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar.
FINALISTS Mahmud Hams of Agence France-Presse for a picture of a missile falling on a target in the Gaza Strip while Palestinians scramble for safety; and the Los Angeles Times staff for photos of wildfires devastating parts of California.

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
PRESTON GANNAWAY of the Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor for her chronicle of a family coping with a parent's terminal illness.
FINALISTS David Guttenfelder of The Associated Press for photos of Vietnamese children affected by toxic Agent Orange decades after the war; Mona Reeder of The Dallas Morning News for pictures of disadvantaged Texans hidden amid the state's prosperity.

LETTERS, DRAMA AND MUSIC



FICTION
THE BRIED WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz. ( Riverhead Books)
FINALISTS Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and Shakespeare's Kitchen by Lore Segal (The New Press).

DRAMA
AUGUST:OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts.
FINALISTS Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang; Dying City by Christopher Shinn.

HISTORY
WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT; THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe (Oxford University Press).
FINALISTS Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek (HarperCollins); The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by the late David Halberstam (Hyperion).

BIOGRAPHY OR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
EDEN'S OUTCASTS: THE STORY OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT AND HER FATHER by John Matteson (WW Norton).
FINALISTSThe Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein by Martin Duberman (Alfred A. Knopf); The Life of Kingsley Amis by Zachary Leader (Pantheon).

POETRY
TIME AND MATERIALS by Robert Hass (Ecco/HarperCollins) and FAILURE by Philip Schultz (Harcourt).
FINALIST Messenger: New and Selected Poems, 1976-2006 by Ellen Bryant Voigt (WW Norton).

GENERAL NON-FICTION
THE YEARS OF EXTERMINATION: NAZI GERMANY AND THE JEWS 1939-1945 by Saul Friedlander (HarperCollins).
FINALISTSThe Cigarette Century by Allan Brandt (Basic Books); The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

MUSIC
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION by David Lang (G. Schirmer, Inc.) Co-commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation and The Perth Theater and Concert Hall, and premiered October 25, 2007 in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York.
FINALISTS Meanwhile by Stephen Hartke (ELR Music Publishing Inc.); Concerto for Viola by Robert Sierra (Subito Music Publishing).

SPECIAL CITATION



BOB DYLAN For his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

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