The 2025 Pulitzer Prizes for journalism were announced on May 5. As we’ve come to expect from these coveted annual awards each year, the winners and finalists represent some of the finest, most impactful journalism produced around the country and worldwide. This year’s recipients hail from nonprofit news outlets to legacy news institutions and renowned news magazines. E&P is delighted to share this year's top Pulitzer Prize recipients.
ProPublica was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, honoring the work of Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser, Cassandra Jaramillo and Stacy Kranitz. They reported on pregnant women who died when they were denied urgent care in states with strict abortion laws. In the wake of the Pulitzer announcement, Jaramillo posted on LinkedIn, “Winning this Pulitzer as part of an all-woman reporting and editing team is an honor in itself. But most of all, this recognition ensures that the lives of Amber Thurman, Candi Miller, Josseli Barnica, Nevaeh Crain and Porsha Ngumezi are never forgotten. Without the sources and family members who trusted us with their most painful experiences, these stories would not have been possible.”
The Washington Post’s staff was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, which recognized the newsroom’s coverage of the July 13 attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump, then a candidate for U.S. president. The Pulitzer judges cited The Washington Post’s “detailed storytelling and sharp analysis that coupled traditional police reporting with audio and video forensics.”
On May 5, WashPost PR blog disclosed how the reporting came together in the immediate aftermath: “The Post’s first report from Butler published almost immediately, at 6:21 p.m., in a live-updates file. The source of the loud noises was not immediately clear. A mobile push alert followed, a banner headline took over the homepage, and then, at 6:44 p.m., the first images of Post photojournalist Jabin Botsford were published, showing blood on Trump’s face. Seven minutes later, The Post reported that Trump was safe, according to the Secret Service. At 7:28 p.m., The Post reported that two people were dead, including the apparent shooter. At 8:05 p.m., it reported that the FBI was investigating the incident as an assassination attempt.”
Ann Telnaes, formerly of The Washington Post, received the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. It recognized her body of work for The Post, known for its “piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions.” Telnaes resigned from The Washington Post in January 2025 after it declined to run a cartoon she illustrated — depicting billionaire tech titan and media executives attempting to curry favor from the president-elect.
The staff at Reuters earned the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for its seven-part exposé of fentanyl and why it’s so inexpensive and readily available in the United States. “We are deeply honored to receive this prestigious award, which recognizes the tireless and courageous efforts of our journalists to shed light on one of the most pressing issues of our time,” said Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni in a May 5 statement. “The ‘Fentanyl Express’ series is a testament to the power of investigative journalism to drive change and hold those in power accountable.”
The New York Times was awarded four 2025 Pulitzer Prizes. The first is for Explanatory Reporting, awarded to Azam Ahmed, Matthieu Aikins and Christina Goldbaum for reporting on how the United States “sowed the seeds of its own failure in Afghanistan.”
Declan Walsh and the staff of The New York Times received the award for International Reporting for their coverage of the conflict in Sudan and the foreign influence and gold trade fueling it.
Photographer Doug Mills received the award for Breaking News Photography for his collection of photos capturing the assassination attempt on presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, including one striking image of the gunman’s bullet.
Addressing the newsroom in the wake of the Pulitzer announcements, Executive Editor Joseph Kahn commended the work of the winners, as well as a number of finalists. “I did want to say a word first about these Pulitzers and the moment we’re in. It’s always an honor to win a Pulitzer, and this year, I’m especially grateful to the juries of our peers for recognizing the astounding range of what The New York Times produces,” Kahn said. “By that I mean, for example, speed. Fast and not quite as fast. There’s nothing faster than the instincts of Doug Mills, who is so often in the right place at the right moment with the right camera at the right very, very fast shutter speed. And there’s nothing quite like the long arc reconstruction of the longest of America’s foreign wars, the deep, patient, brave reporting of Azam, Matt and Christina in the landscape of Afghanistan that still nurses the wounds of America’s intervention.”
“The intrepid reporting of Declan, Nick and Ivor in Sudan, a horrific civil conflict that the world both fueled and sought to forget, is the essence of great foreign correspondence — newsy, risky, vivid and important.”
The Baltimore Banner and The New York Times were recognized with the Local Reporting Award to Reporters Alissa Zhu, Nick Thieme and Jessica Gallagher, who produced a collaborative investigative series about Baltimore’s fentanyl crisis and its disproportionate impact on older Black men. In a statement following the announcement, Banner Editor-in-Chief Kimi Yoshino said, “The Pulitzer Prize is one of the highest honors in journalism, and for The Banner to receive this recognition so early in our journey is both humbling and deeply meaningful. Winning a Pulitzer speaks to the power and importance of nonprofit, locally focused journalism and is a tribute to the strength of our newsroom in uncovering the worst drug overdose crisis in U.S. history.”
For reporting on Elon Musk’s political and personal proclivities, the staff of The Wall Street Journal received the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. A press release announcing the award read, “The success of this reporting is due in large part to the cross-collaborative effort across The Wall Street Journal newsroom — including contributions from the business and tech teams, the investigations team, the D.C. bureau, foreign reporting teams, the visual department and data team. This is the Journal’s 40th Pulitzer Prize.”
Mark Warren, a contributor to Esquire magazine, was awarded the Pulitzer for Feature Writing for his profile of a small-town mayor and Baptist pastor’s suicide after a right-wing news outlet exposed his secret digital life.
The Houston Chronicle’s Raj Mankad, Sharon Steinmann, Lisa Falkenberg and Leah Binkovitz got the top Prize for Editorial Writing for their series about dangerous train crossings in at-risk communities.
The New Yorker received three 2025 Pulitzer Prizes. Contributor Mosab Abu Toha was awarded the Prize for Commentary. Toha wrote a series of essays about “the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir,” according to the Pulitzer jury. Contributor Moises Saman won the award for Feature Photography for his black-and-white photos of Sednaya prison in Syria. The New Yorker’s staff received the award for Audio Reporting for their “In the Dark” podcast, which recounted their four-year investigation into the murders of 25 unarmed Iraqi civilians during the Iraq War. The New Yorker has now won a total of 11 Pulitzer Prizes, including the Gold Medal for Public Service.
Bloomberg CityLab’s contributing writer, Alexandra Lange, received the award for Criticism. She wrote about public spaces for families, “deftly using interviews, observations and analysis to consider the architectural components that allow children and communities to thrive.” Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, John Micklethwait, said in a statement, “We are extremely proud to have published Alexandra Lange’s extraordinary work for Bloomberg CityLab, which showcases our journalism on cities and innovation. Alexandra’s essays, focused on how design affects children and families, offer a perspective that is rarely at the center of architectural criticism. These essays exemplify our commitment to publishing in-depth analysis on topics of great interest to the public.”
Editor & Publisher applauds the work of these exemplary newsrooms, reporting teams, visual journalists and editorial writers. Congratulations to all the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists.
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
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