1942: Pulitzer Prizes

The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced by the trustees of Columbia University on May 4, 1942. These prizes were established in 1915 by the will of the late Joseph Pulitzer, owner and editor of the New York World, for outstanding work in the fields of literature and journalism.

In Literature the prize of $500 for the best work of fiction dealing preferably with some phase of American life went to Ellen Glasgow for her novel 'In This Our Life,' depicting social life in a small Southern town, the prize of $500 for the best biography was awarded to Forrest Wilson for 'Crusader in Crinoline,' a sympathetic study of the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe. For the best poetry the $500 prize was given to William Rose Benet for his narrative poem 'The Dust Which Is God,' quite clearly autobiographical; and in the field of history Margaret Leech's 'Revillé in Washington,' an account of that city during the Civil War, received the $500 award. No award was made in the field of drama.

In Journalism the awards are $500 each, except in the case of a newspaper, in which the prize is a gold medal valued at $500. For reporting national events, Louis Stark of The New York Times was adjudged the winner; Larry Allen, of the Associated Press, carried off honors for reporting international affairs; for reporting of local affairs, the prize went to Stanton Delaplane of the San Francisco Chronicle; and for interpretive correspondence, Carlos P. Romulo, a native of the Philippines, received the award.

Geoffrey Parsons, editor of the New York Herald-Tribune, was recognized as having made the greatest contribution in the way of editorial writing; Herbert L. Block, on the staff of NEA Service, for the best cartoon; and Milton Brooks, staff photographer of the Detroit News, for outstanding news photography. For the most meritorious public service during the year The Los Angeles Times was presented with the Gold Medal.