The Pulitzer Prize Board announced Wednesday that newspapers may submit online material as well as print content in all 14 of its journalism categories, starting with the 2006 competition.
In the Public Service category, which has allowed an online presentation since 1999, a range of online material, such as data bases and interactive graphics, will continue to be permitted, a release issued by the board said. In other categories, the online submissions will be limited to stories and images.
In two categories – Breaking News Reporting and Breaking News Photography – an entry consisting entirely of material published online will be permitted. In other categories, an entry may contain online material but it must also contain material published in the newspaper's print edition, the release said.
The new rules, adopted after a study that began a year ago, will apply to work done in 2005 for prizes awarded in 2006.
"The board believes it has taken a significant step in recognition of the widening role of online journalism at newspapers," said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. "The board will continue to watch the evolution of this medium."
"Consistent with the historic Pulitzer mandate," Gissler said, "eligibility for entering the competition will continue to be restricted to newspapers published daily, Sunday or at least once a week during the calendar year."
The Public Service category is the only one in the competition that takes into account the full use of a newspaper's journalistic resources. So, with the 1999 Pulitzer Prizes, the board permitted an online presentation as part of an entry showing "meritorious public service by a newspaper" and promised to monitor the growth of online journalism.
The other Pulitzer Prize journalism categories range from investigative reporting and international coverage to commentary and cartooning. Depending on which category a newspaper enters, the new rules will allow it to include stories, columns, editorials, cartoons or photographs published online.
In any category, the new rules state, online material must be published on the newspaper's website and, when submitted for competition, "must depict its original publication on the Web, not its subsequent update or alteration."
The revised rules, entry forms and guidelines on the submission of entries can be found on the Pulitzer Prize Web site (www.pulitzer.org). The deadline for entries is February 1, 2006.
