All three have served on the board since 2003. They replace David Kennedy, a Stanford historian who recently completed his tenure. His co-chair, Amanda Bennett, an executive editor at Bloomberg News, resigned from the board on Jan. 1 prior to the end of her term. Board members serve a maximum of nine years while a chair serves for only one year. The new co-chairs will share responsibilities over the course of the year.

Rising through the ranks, Sullivan was named editor of The News in 1999, the first woman to hold that position in the newspaper’s 131-year history. Previously, she was the paper's first female managing editor.

Hahn has written extensively about the American South, African-American history and the international history of slavery, emancipation and race. Blau has carved an eclectic path up the journalistic ranks. 

The new entry system ends the submission of entries on paper, typically in the form of a scrapbook, a practice dating to the start of the Prizes 95 years ago.