I’m not remotely involved in the publishing industry, but as a reader and casual jerk-observer, the Pulitzer Board strikes me as a bunch of jerks. Would love if anyone with more context can comment.
Here’s the deal.
**Administrivia**
There is a 20-member Pulitzer Prize Board (PPB) which selects a 3-member rotating jury. The jury chooses the finalists (typically 3), and submits them back to the PPB. The PPB then selects the winner.
**The 2012 Drama**
There was literary ✨drama✨ in 2012 bc the jury sent 3 finalists to the board and the board awarded the prize to … nobody.
I’d been following bc one of my favorite authors (Karen Russell, for her novel Swamplandia!) was a finalist. I have to say, the decision felt like a massive slap in the face to all three finalists. It’s one thing not to win bc another novel was really great, and quite another not to win bc the board thinks all three finalists were crap and don’t want to sully the fine Pulitzer name on this garbage.
Something else that struck me as very weird was that there was no explanation or communication from the PPB. The three jury members who selected the finalists were giving interviews and writing articles all over the place — and let me tell you, they were none too pleased. The PBB didn’t communicate at all with the jury either, other than to dismiss the three finalists they submitted as garbage. Rude.
**2023**
Just today, I learned that the board awarded TWO Pulitzers in fiction for 2023. Am I taking crazy pills? Do I not understand what an annual award is? Are they just fucking with us to gin up interest?
To me, an annual award is given each year to whatever work best fits the criteria. Was it a shit year? Oh no, massive bummer, give it to the least shit submission. The IOC doesn’t refuse to give a medal to the winner of the 100m dash bc he’s slower than previous years. The announcer at the Oscar’s doesn’t get up on stage and keep the statuette for herself. Glut of talent? Everyone is amazing? Hooray, massive jubilation, you still have to choose one.
So what’s the deal here? Since the board weirdly refuses to offer any information whatsoever, I’m forced to conclude that they are jerks.
**A final thought: $15,000 is not a lot of money**
Pulitzer Prize winners get $15k.
Here is what $15,000 can buy you:
– 3.5 months of median manhattan rent
– Approximately 4 months of childcare in Boston
– a shared oceanview cabin for a family of 4 on a 9-day Alaskan Disney cruise — with $2,248 leftover for flights, excursions, and everything else!
– almost 3/4 of a 2024 Toyota Corolla with the least expensive trim
This is insane! The Pulitzer is easily one of the ten most prestigious literary prizes in the world, and the winner gets $15k? That’s 2 weeks salary for a mid level software engineer at a big company. If the author spent 40 hours a week for one year writing their Pulitzer-winning novel, they would have *just* made minimum wage. Like what are we doing here?
**tldr** I am fascinated by the politics and drama of the Pulitzer Prize Board
by zenocrate
7 Comments
There is a precedent for giving two prizes; Dune won the Hugo Award alongside This Immortal in 1966. It is a strange thing to do in any case.
The financials comparison is a little weird. People don’t write books so that they can get the payout for winning the award. It’s not meant as a salary.
There are tons of awards one can win that have no cash prize. I don’t think it’s reasonable to think of that cash prize as compensation for your work. The writer is making money from whatever their publishing contract is and through sales. I also think that winning the Pulitzer probably has a positive effect on sales.
“15 000 is not a lot of money” The prestigious Goncourt prize in France comes with a fat check of 10 euros. The winners haven’t seemed to complain. Perhaps you’re holding too much importance to the money prize.
I respect The Pulitzer Prize a great deal, in part because they’re willing to go years without issuing prizes. The Prizes are primarily for us, the audience. It’s nice that they value our time more than the authors’ egos.
In 1973 they gave NO prize because the jury agreed that Thomas Pynchon’s *Gravity’s Rainbow* (which is partially about a man who can detect nuclear missiles with his erection) was the best written book of the year, but decided that the book was still just too obscene and pretentious and confusing to merit such a high honor.
I’m SO HERE for the Swamplandia love and outrage!!!!