American journalist and publisher, founder of the Pulitzer Prizes and along with William Randolph Hearst the creator of a new and controversial type of journalism. Pulitzer saw himself as a crusader on the side of the people and a spokesman for democracy. He supported labour, attacked trusts and monopolies and revealed political corruption. When journalism was not a respectable way of earning one's living, Pulitzer was committed to raising the standards of the profession.

Joseph Pulitzer was born in Budapest (in some sources Makó), Hungary. He emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1864 and served in a cavalry regiment until the end of Civil War. After the war Pulitzer worked as a reporter, first in St. Louis on the Westliche Post, and acquired a part ownership of the paper in 1871. In the 1860s he also participated in politics and studied law. In 1874 he was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a correspondent of the New York Sun.

The purchase of the New York World in 1883 from the controversial financier Jay Gould turned out to be wise decision, and made him wealthy. The magazine increased in stature through its crusades against great business monopolises, lotteries, and white slavery. In 1885 he was elected to Congress from New York, but he resigned. Two years later he founded the Evening World in New York, although he began at that time to withdraw from direct management of his publications.

In the 1890s Pulitzer had a circulation war with William Randolp Hearst, and his newspapers were accused of "yellow journal" practices. Pulitzer died on October 29, 1911. Through his will, he established the Columbia University School of Journalism, which was one of his chief desires, and annual Pulitzer Prizes for literature, drama, music, and journalism.

The Pulitzer Prizes, originally endowed with a gift of $500,000 from Joseph Pulitzer, are highly esteemed and have been awarded since 1917. However, it took years before they made a significant impact on the public. In journalism the Prizes were awarded in the 1920s for exposing the practices of the Ku Klux Klan, revealing the dehumanising prison conditions and exploring the problems of labour during a national coal strike. The novel prize was to be given only to a work 'which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life, and the highest standard of American manners and manhood'. The wording has been since changed from 'whole atmosphere' to 'wholesome atmosphere'. In 1921 the advisory board unanimously turned down Sinclair Lewis' Main Street, recommended by the jury, and choose instead Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

The awards in letters are for fiction, drama, U.S. history, biography or autobiography, verse and non-fiction not covered by another category. The Prizes are annually awarded by Columbia University, New York City. The novel award, which was changed to an award in fiction in 1948, has proved to be the most controversial. - See also: Pulitzer Price for Fiction

For further reading: Joseph Pulitzer, His Life and Letters by Don Carlos Seitz (1924); The Pulitzer Prize Story, ed. by John Hohenberg (1959); Pulitzer by W.A. Swanberg (1967); The Pulitzer Prizes (1975); The Pulitzer Story II, ed. by John Hohenberg (1980); The Pulitzer Prize Novels, by W.J. Stuckey (1981); Joseph Pulitzer II and the Post-Dispatch by Daniel W. Pfaff (1991); The Pulitzer Prize by J. Douglas Bates (1991); Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World by Nancy Whitelaw (1991)