I'm Minyeon Fogarty and this week I have a segment to celebrate the 100th anniversary

of the Pulitzer Prize. A fascinating piece about the Navajo language being used as an

uncrackable code during World War II. That piece is from a new Quick Interity Tips podcast

that we're really excited about called Unknown History. And finally I'll end with a

funny story from a listener. And now the fascinating history of the Pulitzer Prize and why it's

not pronounced Pulitzer by Edwin Badaestella. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer

Prize, the annual prize in journalism and letters, established by the estate of Joseph Pulitzer

in 1916 and run by the Columbia School of Journalism, which was also established by Pulitzer's estate.

The first Pulitzer prizes in reporting were given in 1917 to Herbert Bayard Swope of New York

World for a series of articles titled Inside the German Empire and to the New York Tribune for

its editorial on the first anniversary of the sinking of the Lucidania. The first Pulitzers

in literature were awarded that year to French ambassador John Jules Giusserrand for his work

History with Americans of Past and Present Days. And to Laura E. Richards in Maud Howe Elliott

for the autobiography of Julia Ward Howe. Over the years, prize categories have evolved,

poetry, general nonfiction, fiction, and more were added in the literary arts. And categories

such as editorial cartooning, local and national investigative reporting, and editorial and feature

photography were added in journalism. The category of telegraph reporting has quaintly fallen away.

Today there are more than 20 award categories. And it's worth noting that Oxford University Press

Books have won a fair share of awards in history, biography, and even one in music.

This year, the Pulitzer Board is sponsoring a year-long celebration of the 100th awarding of the

prizes. In collaboration with State Humanities Councils, Journalism Schools, Museums, and Foundations.

A friend of mine, a Pulitzer winner himself, was telling me about this over coffee.

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