Pulitzer Now Allows Blog Submissions
Posted on November 28, 2006
New guidelines for the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes allow the submission of a blogs. A press release from the Pulitzer Board discusses the widening of the range of online journalims to include blogs and other online content.
The purpose of the new category is to encourage and honor exemplary local journalism, marked by strong reporting across a spectrum of potential subjects. "The Pulitzer Prizes have long valued such reporting," Gissler said, "but this makes our interest much more explicit."The How to Submit a Entry PDF file on the offical site at pulitzer.org also contains the following definition of an online element. The definition does include the world blog. This is the definition: "It is a single, unified, discretely designated presentation. For example, it can be an online story, database, blog, interactive graphic, slide show or video presentation. Each designated element will count as one item in the total number permitted in an entry."While the local category replaces the Beat Reporting category that was created in 1991, the work of beat reporters remains eligible for entry in a wide range of categories that include-depending on the specialty involved-national, investigative, and explanatory reporting, as well as the new local category.
With its new rules for online submissions, the Pulitzer Board will require each online element to be a single, discretely designated presentation, such as a database, blog, interactive graphic, slide show, or video presentation. Each designated element will count as one item in the total number of items, print or online, that are permitted in an entry.
Most of the language on the Pulitzer site and in the PDF talks about newspapers so there may be a bias towards newspaper blogs. There is also no specific award being offered for a blog.