Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prizes are among the most prestigious awards in journalism, literature and music, honoring work that demonstrates excellence and impact in American public life and culture.

Heather Ann Thompson

2017, Pulitzer Prize for History for Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

Historian and author Heather Ann Thompson received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in History for Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. Based on more than a decade of archival research and interviews, the book offers a definitive account of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, its violent suppression, and the decades-long fight for justice that followed.

photo of William Bolcom

William Bolcom

1988, Music: 12 New Etudes for Piano

Composer and pianist William Bolcom received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for 12 New Etudes for Piano, a virtuosic and stylistically diverse set of solo pieces completed between 1977 and 1986. Written as a sequel to his earlier 12 Etudes for Piano (1959–66), the New Etudes explore a wide range of pianistic techniques and musical idioms, blending classical tradition with jazz, ragtime, and modernist influences.