1961 Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prizes for 1961 are:

Journalism awards

Public Service:
The Amarillo Globe-Times, for "exposing a breakdown in local law enforcement with resultant punitive action that swept lax officials from their posts and brought about the election of a reform slate. The newspaper thus exerted its civic leadership in the finest tradition of journalism."
Local Reporting, Edition Time:
Sanche de Gramont of the New York Herald Tribune, "for his moving account of the death of Leonard Warren on the Metropolitan Opera stage".
Local Reporting, No Edition time:
Edgar May of The Buffalo Evening News, for his 14-part series about New York's public welfare services, "Our Costly Dilemma", which "brought about reforms that attracted nationwide attention".
Editorial Writing:
William J. Dorvillier of The San Juan Star, "for his editorials on clerical interference in the 1960 gubernatorial election in Puerto Rico".

thumb|"Tokyo Stabbing", the prize-winning photograph

Photography:
Yasushi Nagao of Mainichi (Tokyo), for "Tokyo Stabbing", a photograph of the assassination of Japanese politician Inejiro Asanuma, distributed in the United States by United Press International.

Fiction:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Lippincott)
Drama:
All the Way Home by Tad Mosel (Obolensky)
History:
Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference by Herbert Feis (Princeton Univ. Press)
Biography or Autobiography:
Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War by David Donald (Knopf)
Poetry:
Times Three: Selected Verse From Three Decades by Phyllis McGinley (Viking)
Music:
Symphony No. 7 by Walter Piston (Associated Music Publishers), first performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra on February 10, 1961, and commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association.
Special Citation:
American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, as a distinguished example of American book publishing.