1989 Pulitzer Prize

Below are the winners of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize by category.

Journalism awards

 * Public Service:
 * Anchorage Daily News, for reporting about the high incidence of alcoholism and suicide among native Alaskans in a series that focused attention on their despair and resulted in various reforms.
 * General News Reporting:
 * Staff of Louisville Courier-Journal, for its exemplary initial coverage of a bus crash that claimed 27 lives and its subsequent thorough and effective examination of the causes and implications of the tragedy.
 * Investigative Reporting:
 * Bill Dedman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for his investigation of the racial discrimination practiced by lending institutions in Atlanta, reporting which led to significant reforms in those policies.
 * Explanatory Journalism:
 * David Hanners, reporter, William Snyder, photographer, and Karen Blessen, artist of The Dallas Morning News, for their special report on a 1985 airplane crash, the follow-up investigation, and the implications for air safety.
 * Specialized Reporting:
 * Edward Humes of the Orange County Register, for his in-depth reporting on the military establishment in Southern California.
 * National Reporting:
 * Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele of The Philadelphia Inquirer, for their 15-month investigation of rifle shot provisions in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, a series that aroused such widespread public indignation that Congress subsequently rejected proposals giving special tax breaks to many politically connected individuals and businesses.
 * International Reporting:
 * Bill Keller of The New York Times, for resourceful and detailed coverage of events in the U.S.S.R.
 * International Reporting:
 * Glenn Frankel of The Washington Post, for sensitive and balanced reporting from Israel and the Middle East.
 * Feature Writing:
 * David Zucchino of The Philadelphia Inquirer, for his richly compelling series, Being Black in South Africa.
 * Commentary:
 * Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, for his provocative columns on local and national affairs.
 * Criticism:
 * Michael Skube of the News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, for his writing about books and other literary topics.
 * Editorial Writing:
 * Lois Wille of the Chicago Tribune, for her editorials on a variety of local issues.
 * Editorial Cartooning:
 * Jack Higgins of the Chicago Sun-Times.
 * Spot News Photography:
 * Ron Olshwanger, a freelance photographer, for a picture published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of a firefighter giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a child pulled from a burning building.
 * Feature Photography:
 * Manny Crisostomo of the Detroit Free Press, for his series of photographs depicting student life at Southwestern High School in Detroit.

Letters, Drama and Music Awards

 * Fiction:
 * Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf)
 * Drama:
 * The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein (Fireside Theatre)
 * History:
 * Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson (Oxford University Press)
 * History:
 * Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 by Taylor Branch (Simon & Schuster)
 * Biography or Autobiography:
 * Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann (Alfred A. Knopf)
 * Poetry:
 * New and Collected Poems by Richard Wilbur (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
 * General Non-fiction:
 * A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan (Random House)
 * Music:
 * Whispers Out of Time by Roger Reynolds (C. F. Peters) premiered on December 11, 1988, at Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, Massachusetts.