A listing of thePulitzer Prize award winners for 1997:
| Public Service | The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) | " ... for its comprehensive series analyzing the conditions that threaten the world's supply of fish." |
| Beat Reporting | Byron Acohido ofThe Seattle Times | " ... for his coverage of theaerospace industry, notably an exhaustive investigation of rudder control problems on theBoeing 737, which contributed to newFAA requirements for major improvements." |
| Spot News Photography | Annie Wells ofThe Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) | " ... for her dramatic photograph of a local firefighter rescuing a teenager from raging floodwaters." |
| Breaking News Reporting | Staff ofNewsday | " ... for its enterprising coverage of the crash ofTWA Flight 800 and its aftermath." |
| Commentary | Eileen McNamara ofThe Boston Globe | " ... for her many-sided columns onMassachusetts people and issues." |
| Criticism | Tim Page ofThe Washington Post | " ... for his lucid and illuminating music criticism." |
| Editorial Cartooning | Walt Handelsman ofThe Times-Picayune (New Orleans) | |
| Editorial Writing | Michael Gartner of theAmes Tribune (Ames, Iowa) | " ... for his common sense editorials about issues deeply affecting the lives of people in his community." |
| Explanatory Journalism | Michael Vitez, reporter, andApril Saul andRon Cortes, photographers ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer | " ... for a series on the choices that confronted critically ill patients who sought todie with dignity." |
| Feature Photography | Alexander Zemlianichenko of theAssociated Press | " ... for his photograph ofRussian PresidentBoris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert during his campaign for re-election." (Moved by the Board from the Spot News Photography category) |
| Feature Writing | Lisa Pollak ofThe Baltimore Sun | " ... for her compelling portrait of a baseball umpire who endured the death of a son while knowing that another son suffers from the same deadly genetic disease." |
| International Reporting | John F. Burns ofThe New York Times | " ... for his courageous and insightful coverage of the harrowing regime imposed on Afghanistan by theTaliban." |
| Investigative Reporting | Eric Nalder,Deborah Nelson andAlex Tizon ofThe Seattle Times | " ... for their investigation of widespread corruption and inequities in the federally-sponsored housing program forNative Americans, which inspired much-needed reforms." |
| National Reporting | Staff ofThe Wall Street Journal | " ... for its coverage of the struggle againstAIDS in all of its aspects, the human, the scientific and the business, in light of promising treatments for the disease." |
