-This is a very proud day for all of us
at "The Washington Post".
With these awards and the five finalists,
this is only the second time in the history
of "The Washington Post" that so many Pulitzer Awards
and recognition has been given on the same day.
-This recognition from peers in our profession
illustrates the breadth of excellence in our newsroom.
Each body of work recognized here today
reflects an intense, sustained reporting effort that is truly
what "The Washington Post" stands for -- intense,
sustained reporting and deep, compelling storytelling.
-And the prize goes to Caroline Kitchener
of "The Washington Post" for unflinching reporting
that captured the complex consequences of life
after Roe v. Wade,
including the story of a Texas teenager
who gave birth to twins after new restrictions
denied her an abortion.
-Almost two years ago,
in August 2021, I spent a morning
in an abortion clinic in Houston, Texas,
48 hours before the Texas abortion ban
was supposed to take effect.
I sat there for five hours as the phones kept ringing
and ringing and ringing.
It was 400 women in total
that called that day desperate to get an appointment
before the new law cut off abortion access in the state.
But sitting in that clinic listening to those women
pleading for those appointments, it was just so clear
that we couldn't ignore what was happening there.
These stories are the product of two great editors,
one of whom should be here with us today but isn't.
It was Neema Roshania Patel
who had the foresight to send me to Texas
before that abortion law took effect,
recognizing the importance of this story before anybody else.
Neema pushed me to look beyond the politics
and the court cases to write about the abortion bans
through the lives of the women
who would be directly impacted by them.
This award is a testament to her vision,
and I so badly wish that she could be here with us today.
-And the prize goes to Eli Saslow
of "The Washington Post" for evocative,
individual narratives about people struggling
with the pandemic, homelessness, addiction, and inequality
that collectively form a sharply observed portrait
of contemporary America.
-We ask a ton of people to go spend time with them
in the kind of stories that I do to immerse
into their lives at really fragile moments
and it takes a lot of courage to say yes to that.
The courage and the burden
is always on that side of the exchange.
What we get to do, the great gift of this work,
is we get to go see it.
We get to be there, we get to report, we get to watch,
we get to pay attention with the great hope
that it will force other people to do the same.
-And the prize goes to "His Name Is George Floyd"
by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa.
An intimate, riveting portrait of an ordinary man
whose fatal encounter with police officers in 2020
sparked an international movement for social change.
-It's great to celebrate
the technical achievements of what we did,
but my hope is that we don't lose sight of the reason
we did what we did.
If there's anything that I hope people will gain
from going through the pages of this work,
it's to remind ourselves of the harmful effects
of what can happen when a country
chooses not to confront its darkest truths,
how it affects us all,
the pervasiveness of racism, and also being a story
of the persistent people in this country who hope one day
that it will live up to its true ideals.
-For all "The Post" folks here,
thank you for being who you are
and making such magic happen on a daily basis.
The great journalism being recognized today --
the winners, the finalists, and so much more.
Daily excellence that happens without fanfare
is a reflection of the power of your storytelling.
Give yourself a round of applause.