Skip to main content
The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Special Citations and Awards

Julie K. Brown

A special citation is awarded to Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown for her groundbreaking reporting in 2017 and 2018 that exposed Jeffrey Epstein’s systematic abuse of young women, the justice system that protected him, and, over time, his powerful network of associates and enablers. Her Perversion of Justice series, published nearly a decade ago, revealed how prosecutors shielded Epstein from federal sex trafficking charges when he was first accused of abusing young women. She went on to document and give voice to the scores of victims who had been groomed and abused by him and others in his circle. Her work, and the release of the government’s Epstein files, continue to reverberate around the world.

Biography

Julie K. Brown is widely considered one of the best investigative journalists in the country. During her 40-year career, she has won some of the top investigative prizes in journalism for exposing corruption and racial and human rights abuses in the nation’s criminal justice system. Her 2018 groundbreaking investigation “Perversion of Justice,” led to the arrests of sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell; the resignation of the U.S. secretary of labor; the first arrest of a British Royal in 400 years – and the downfall of countless other captains of industry, politics, media and academia around the world.

The ensuing scandal led to the release of millions of Justice Department files about Epstein’s sex trafficking and money laundering empire – and ignited a global reckoning about the delicate balance between power and morality.

Her effort to persuade a reluctant police chief and traumatized survivors to go on the record for the first time stands as a distinguished example of investigative reporting. She has won two George Polk Awards, a Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights Reporting, the Columbia Journalism Award, the Hillman Prize, PEN America’s Voice of Courage Award and in 2020, she was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people.

She has frequently appeared on CNN, MSNOW, NBC News and has been profiled in The New York Times and other newspapers and magazines.

She is the author of “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story,” which is the basis for an upcoming Sony TV limited series produced by Oscar-winning director Adam McKay.

Winners in Special Citations and Awards

2025

Chuck Stone

A special citation is awarded to the late Chuck Stone for his groundbreaking work as a journalist covering the Civil Rights Movement, his pioneering role as the first Black columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News–later syndicated to nearly 100 publications–and for co-founding the National Association of Black Journalists 50 years ago.
2024

Greg Tate

A special citation for the late writer and critic Greg Tate, whose language – cribbed from literature, academia, popular culture and hip-hop – was as influential as the content of his ideas. His aesthetic, innovations and intellectual originality, particularly in his pioneering hip-hop criticism, continue to influence subsequent generations, especially writers and critics of color.
2022

The Journalists of Ukraine

The Pulitzer Board awards a special citation to the journalists of Ukraine for their courage, endurance, and commitment to truthful reporting during Vladimir Putin’s ruthless invasion of their country and his propaganda war in Russia. Despite bombardment, abductions, occupation, and even deaths in their ranks, they have persisted in their effort to provide an accurate picture of a terrible reality, doing honor to Ukraine and to journalists around the world.
See All Special Citations and Awards

2026 Prize Winners

Opinion Writing

M. Gessen of The New York Times

For an illuminating collection of reported essays on rising authoritarian regimes that draw on history and personal experience to probe timely themes of oppression, belonging and exile.
See All 2026 Winners