2012 Pulitzer Prizes

The Pulitzer Prizes, created in 1917, are awarded annually "to honor excellence in American journalism and arts," and are widely considered to be the foremost awards for American arts, literature, and journalism.  The prizes were created by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, who came to own the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World and believed passionately in the role of a free press in American society.  Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, who owned the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Journal, engaged in constant circulation competitions between their newspapers. For more information about Joseph Pulitzer and the Pulitzer Prizes, please see www.pulitzer.org.  Petworth Library has a display of some of the books which have won or been finalists for a Pulitzer Prize, including:














Swamplandia!




A Visit from the Good Squad 














First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt




The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family