Photographs: P Rajendran and Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com A Correspondent in New York
Dr Mukherjee won the award on May 23 in the general non-fiction category for his book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which focuses on his own experiences with cancer.
Like all Pulitzer award functions, it was a quiet affair, with 260 people attending the event held over lunch at the Rotunda of Low Memorial Library in Columbia University in New York City.
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Dr Sidhhartha Mukherjee becomes 4th Indian to win Pulitzer
Photographs: P Rajendran and Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
Dr Mukherjee shared table 2 with Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs and professor, Columbia Journalism School.
Anne Marie Lipinski of the Pulitzer Prize board, a winner herself, while stressing the need for humility, discussed how her grandmother had mentioned Lipinski's winning of the award in the middle of some humdrum details, and how her husband had put a safe driving award along with her Pulitzer citation.
Dr Sidhhartha Mukherjee becomes 4th Indian to win Pulitzer
Photographs: P Rajendran and Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
She said that while the Pulitzer board was not infallible, the idea was to ensure an effort was made not just to win a Pulitzer but to write every story so as to try and win it.
Lee Bollinger, president, Columbia University, handed out the awards.
Dr Mukherjee became the fourth person of Indian origin to win the award, after Gobind Behari Lal (1937, for his coverage of science at Harvard University's tercentenary), Jhuma Lahiri (2000, for her fictional work, Interpreters of Maladies) and Geeta Anand (2003, for explanatory journalism in stories about scandals in corporate America).
Dr Sidhhartha Mukherjee becomes 4th Indian to win Pulitzer
Photographs: P Rajendran and Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
In Journalism category:
Public Service: Los Angeles Times
Breaking News Reporting: No award this year
Investigative Reporting: Paige St John of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Explanatory Reporting: Mark Johnson, Kathleen Gallagher, Gary Porter, Lou Saldivar and Alison Sherwood of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Local Reporting: Frank Main, Mark Konkol and John J. Kim of the Chicago Sun-Times
National Reporting: Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein of ProPublica
International Reporting: Clifford J. Levy and Ellen Barry of The New York Times
Feature Writing: Amy Ellis Nutt of The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey
Commentary: David Leonhardt of The New York Times
Criticism: Sebastian Smee of The Boston Glob
Editorial Writing: Joseph Rago of The Wall Street Journal
Editorial Cartooning: Mike Keefe of The Denver Post
Breaking News Photography: Carol Guzy, Nikki Kahn and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post
Feature Photography: Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times
Dr Sidhhartha Mukherjee becomes 4th Indian to win Pulitzer
Photographs: P Rajendran and Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
Pulitzer awards in Letters, Drama, and Music category:
Fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Alfred A.. Knopf)
Drama: Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
History: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner (W.W. Norton & Company)
Biography or Autobiography: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (The Penguin Press)
Poetry: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan (Grove/Atlantic)
General Nonfiction: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner)
Music: Madame White Snake by Zhou Long (Oxford University Press)
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