Pulitzer Prize

After a staggering seven-decade career, Wouk passed away just 10 days short of his 104th birthday.

In an email to the paper’s staff, Gerry Baker complained about the ‘small, self-selected group of journalists, academics and literary mavens’ who select Pulitzer Prize winners.

The rapper is far from the first Pulitzer Prize-worthy black artist. But like Beyoncé and fellow virtuosos, he has long been denied the industry award recognition he deserves.

Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ ‘Fucking A’ sees an abortionist trying to find her son, while in ‘In the Blood’ a mother of five tries to keep her family together.

He was unapologetically himself and he cared about telling other people’s stories with a dignity they were often denied in daily life.

It was a catastrophic year for pop culture fans, with luminaries, iconoclasts, and beloved symbols of our childhoods passing on seemingly every week. Here we remember the greats.

For the third year in a row, the clash of the nation’s brightest under 16-year-olds ended in a draw, with co-champions—but there was plenty of tension and proud moments along the way.