| Year | Name(s) | Publication | Rationale |
|---|
| 1970 | Marquis Childs | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "for distinguished commentary during 1969." |
|---|
| 1971 | William A. Caldwell | The Record | "for his commentary in his daily column." |
|---|
| 1972 | Mike Royko | Chicago Daily News | "for his columns during 1971." |
|---|
| 1973 | David S. Broder | The Washington Post | "for his columns during 1972." |
|---|
| 1974 | Edwin A. Roberts Jr. | National Observer | "for his commentary on public affairs during 1973." |
|---|
| 1975 | Mary McGrory | The Washington Star | "for her commentary on public affairs during 1974." |
|---|
| 1976 | Red Smith | The New York Times | "for his commentary on sports in 1975 and for many other years." |
|---|
| 1977 | George Will | The Washington Post | "for distinguished commentary on a variety of topics." |
|---|
| 1978 | William Safire | The New York Times | "for commentary on theBert Lance affair." |
|---|
| 1979 | Russell Baker | The New York Times | |
|---|
| 1980 | Ellen Goodman | The Boston Globe | |
|---|
| Richard Reeves | Universal Press Syndicate | |
| Carl Rowan | Chicago Sun-Times | |
| 1981 | Dave Anderson | The New York Times | "for his commentary on sports." |
|---|
| Richard Cohen | The Washington Post | |
| Howard Rosenberg | Los Angeles Times | |
| 1982 | Art Buchwald | Los Angeles Times | |
|---|
| William Greider | The Washington Post | |
| William Raspberry | The Washington Post | |
| 1983 | Claude Sitton | The News and Observer | |
|---|
| Ross Mackenzie | The Richmond News Leader | |
| David Rossie | The Binghamton Evening Press | |
| 1984 | Vermont C. Royster | The Wall Street Journal | |
|---|
| Arnold Rosenfeld | Dayton Daily News | |
| Dorothy Storck | The Philadelphia Inquirer | |
| 1985 | Murray Kempton | Newsday | "for witty and insightful reflection on public issues in 1984 and throughout a distinguished career." |
|---|
| Molly Ivins | Dallas Times Herald | |
| Martin Nolan | The Boston Globe | |
| 1986 | Jimmy Breslin | New York Daily News | "for columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens." |
|---|
| Joseph Kraft | Los Angeles Times | "for incisive and thoughtful commentary on a wide range of public issues throughout a long and distinguished career." |
| Charles Krauthammer | The Washington Post | "for his gracefully written and clear commentary on a variety of issues." |
| 1987 | Charles Krauthammer | The Washington Post | "for his witty and insightful columns on national issues." |
|---|
| Richard Cohen | The Washington Post | "for his eloquent columns on social and political issues." |
| Donald Kaul | The Gazette | "for his compelling commentary on national events." |
| 1988 | Dave Barry | Miami Herald | "for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns." |
|---|
| Ira Berkow | The New York Times | "for thoughtful commentary on the sports scene." |
| Molly Ivins | Dallas Times Herald | "for her witty columns on a variety of social and political issues." |
| Michael Kinsley | United Feature Syndicate | "for his incisive commentary on a wide range of political topics." |
| 1989 | Clarence Page | Chicago Tribune | "for his provocative columns on local and national affairs." |
|---|
| Richard Cohen | The Washington Post | "for his clear and controlled commentary on social and political topics." |
| Michael Kinsley | United Feature Syndicate | "for informed commentary on a variety of national issues." |
| 1990 | Jim Murray | Los Angeles Times | "for his sports columns." |
|---|
| Richard Cohen | The Washington Post | "for his columns on national issues." |
| Walter Goodman | The New York Times | "for his columns about television." |
| 1991 | Jim Hoagland | The Washington Post | "for searching and prescient columns on events leading up to theGulf War and on the political problems ofMikhail Gorbachev." |
|---|
| Rheta Grimsley Johnson | The Commercial Appeal | "for her insightful columns on a variety of topics." |
| Philip Terzian | The Providence Journal | "for his gracefully written columns about national and international events." |
| William Woo | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "for his thoughtful columns on local and national subjects." |
| 1992 | Anna Quindlen | The New York Times | "for her compelling columns on a wide range of personal and political topics." |
|---|
| Liz Balmaseda | Miami Herald | "for her columns aboutlocal Cuban-Americans and the issues affecting the immigrant community." |
| Robert Lipsyte | The New York Times | "for his insightful commentary on the world of sports." |
| 1993 | Liz Balmaseda | Miami Herald | "for her commentary from Haiti aboutdeteriorating political and social conditions and her columns aboutCuban-Americans in Miami." |
|---|
| Betty DeRamus | The Detroit News | "for her columns about the problems and promise of urban America." |
| Bill Johnson | The Orange County Register | "for his impressionistic accounts of his South Central Los Angeles neighborhood before and after the riots." |
| 1994 | William Raspberry | The Washington Post | "for his compelling commentaries on a variety of social and political topics." |
|---|
| Jane Daugherty | Detroit Free Press | "for her 'Children First' columns, about issues affecting the youngest Americans.." |
| Peter King | Los Angeles Times | "for his columns about California, filed from around the state." |
| 1995 | Jim Dwyer | Newsday | "for his compelling and compassionate columns aboutNew York City." |
|---|
| Paul Gigot | The Wall Street Journal | "for his insightful columns on Washington politics." |
| Carl Rowan | Chicago Sun-Times | "for his columns disclosing corruption and mismanagement at theNAACP, which prompted reforms at the civil rights organization." |
| 1996 | E. R. Shipp | New York Daily News | "for her penetrating columns on race, welfare and other social issues." |
|---|
| Dorothy Rabinowitz | The Wall Street Journal | "for her columns effectively challenging key cases of alleged child abuse." |
| 1997 | Eileen McNamara | The Boston Globe | "for her many-sided columns onMassachusetts people and issues." |
|---|
| Tony Kornheiser | The Washington Post | "for his evocative columns ranging from sports and politics to tales of heroes and fools." |
| Deborah Work | Sun Sentinel | "for speaking out in highly personal yet broadly relevant columns in roles as diverse as parent, citizen, critic and philosopher." |
| 1998 | Mike McAlary | New York Daily News | "for reporting on thebrutalization of a Haitian immigrant by police officers at a Brooklyn stationhouse." |
|---|
| Bob Greene | Chicago Tribune | "for his columns devoted to local children whose lives were mishandled by the welfare and judicial systems." |
| Robert J. Samuelson | The Washington Post | "for his knowledgeable and analytical columns on a wide variety of national subjects." |
| Patricia Smith | The Boston Globe | "for her lyrical and evocative columns on an assortment of urban topics." |
| 1999 | Maureen Dowd | The New York Times | "for her fresh and insightful columns on the impact ofPresident Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky." |
|---|
| Nat Hentoff | The Village Voice | "for his passionate columns championing free expression and individual rights." |
| Donald Kaul | The Des Moines Register | "for his witty columns from Washington on politics and other national issues." |
| 2000 | Paul Gigot | The Wall Street Journal | "for his informative and insightful columns on politics and government." |
|---|
| Michael Kelly | The Washington Post | "for his enlightening and entertaining observations on cultural and political issues." |
| Colbert I. King | The Washington Post | "for his caring, persuasive columns addressing social and urban problems." |
| 2001 | Dorothy Rabinowitz | The Wall Street Journal | "for her articles on American society and culture." |
|---|
| Karen Heller | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for her humorous columns on modern life and popular culture." |
| Derrick Z. Jackson | The Boston Globe | "for his perceptive, versatile columns on such subjects as politics, education and race." |
| Trudy Rubin | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for her keenly analytical columns on the Middle East." |
| 2002 | Thomas Friedman | The New York Times | "for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on theworldwide impact of the terrorist threat." |
|---|
| Michael Daly | New York Daily News | "for his compassionate and humane columns, particularly those written after theterrorist attack on New York City." |
| Nat Hentoff | The Village Voice | "for his persuasive and authoritative columns on thethreats to American civil liberties following theSeptember 11th terrorist attacks." |
| 2003 | Colbert I. King | The Washington Post | "for his against-the-grain columns that speak to people in power with ferocity and wisdom." |
|---|
| Edward Achorn | The Providence Journal | "for his clear, tenacious call to action againstgovernment corruption in Rhode Island." |
| Mark Holmberg | Richmond Times-Dispatch | "for his thought provoking, strongly reported columns on a broad range of topics." |
| 2004 | Leonard Pitts | Miami Herald | "for his fresh, vibrant columns that spoke, with both passion and compassion, to ordinary people on often divisive issues." |
|---|
| Nicholas Kristof | The New York Times | "for his columns that, through rigorous reporting and powerful writing, often gave voice to forgotten people trapped in misery." |
| Cynthia Tucker | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | "for her forceful, persuasive columns that confronted sacred cows and hot topics with unswerving candor." |
| 2005 | Connie Schultz | The Plain Dealer | "for her pungent columns that provided a voice for the underdog and underprivileged." |
|---|
| Nicholas Kristof | The New York Times | "for his powerful columns that portrayed suffering among the developing world's often forgotten people and stirred action." |
| Tommy Tomlinson | The Charlotte Observer | "for his provocative columns with a wide-ranging human touch." |
| 2006 | Nicholas Kristof | The New York Times | "for his graphic, deeply reported columns that, at personal risk, focused attention ongenocide in Darfur and that gave voice to the voiceless in other parts of the world." |
|---|
| Chris Rose | The Times-Picayune | "for his vibrant and compassionate columns that gave voice to the afflictions ofhis city after it was struck byHurricane Katrina." |
| Cynthia Tucker | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | "for her pungent, clear-eyed columns that tackled controversial issues with frankness and fortitude." |
| 2007 | Cynthia Tucker | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | "for her courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the community." |
|---|
| Ruth Marcus | The Washington Post | "for her intelligent and incisive commentary on a range of subjects, using a voice that can be serious or playful." |
| Joe Nocera | The New York Times | "for his piercing, authoritative columns on business, often spotlighting misdeeds and flaws in corporate culture." |
| 2008 | Steven Pearlstein | The Washington Post | "for his insightful columns that explore the nation's complex economic ills with masterful clarity." |
|---|
| Regina Brett | The Plain Dealer | "for her passionate columns on alienated teenagers in a dangerous city neighborhood." |
| John Kass | Chicago Tribune | "for his hard-hitting columns on the abuse of local political power and a lively range of topics in a colorful city." |
| 2009 | Eugene Robinson | The Washington Post | "for his eloquent columns on the2008 presidential campaign that focus on the election of thefirst African-American president, showcasing graceful writing and grasp of the larger historic picture." |
|---|
| Regina Brett | The Plain Dealer | "for her range of compelling columns that move the heart, challenge authority and often trigger action while giving readers deeper insight into life's challenges." |
| Paul Krugman | The New York Times | "for his prophetic columns on economic peril during ayear of financial calamity, blending the scholarly knowledge of a distinguished economist with the skill of a wordsmith." |
| 2010 | Kathleen Parker | The Washington Post | "for her perceptive, often witty columns on an array of political and moral issues." |
|---|
| David Leonhardt | The New York Times | "for his illumination of the nation's most pressing and complex economic concerns, fromhealth care reform to theworst recession in decades." |
| Phillip Morris | The Plain Dealer | "for his columns that close the distance between the reader and the rough streets of the city, confronting hard realities without leaving people to feel hopeless." |
| 2011 | David Leonhardt | The New York Times | "for his graceful penetration of America's complicated economic questions, from thefederal budget deficit tohealth care reform." |
|---|
| Phillip Morris | The Plain Dealer | "for his blend of local storytelling and unpredictable opinions, enlarging the discussion of controversial issues that stir a big city." |
| Mary Schmich | Chicago Tribune | "for her versatile columns exploring life and the concerns of a metropolis with whimsy and poignancy." |
| 2012 | Mary Schmich | Chicago Tribune | "for her wide range of down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city." |
|---|
| Nicholas Kristof | The New York Times | "for his valorous columns that transport readers into dangerous international scenes, from Egypt to Kenya to Cambodia, often focusing on the disenfranchised and always providing insight." |
| Steve Lopez | Los Angeles Times | "for his engaging commentary on death and dying, marked by pieces on his own father's rapid physical and mental decline, that stir readers to address end-of-life questions." |
| 2013 | Bret Stephens | The Wall Street Journal | "for his incisive columns on American foreign policy and domestic politics, often enlivened by a contrarian twist." |
|---|
| Mark Di Ionno | The Star-Ledger | "for his hard hitting columns onHurricane Sandy, thedeath of a gay college student and other local events and issues." |
| Juliette Kayyem | The Boston Globe | "for her colorful, well reported columns on an array of issues, fromwomen in combat tooil drilling in Alaska." |
| 2014 | Stephen Henderson | Detroit Free Press | "for his columns on thefinancial crisis facing his hometown, written with passion and a stirring sense of place, sparing no one in their critique." |
|---|
| Kevin Cullen | The Boston Globe | "for his street-wise local columns that capture the spirit of a city, especially after its famedmarathon was devastated by terrorist bombings." |
| Lisa Falkenberg | Houston Chronicle | "for her provocative metro columns written from the perspective of a sixth-generation Texan, often challenging the powerful and giving voice to the voiceless." |
| 2015 | Lisa Falkenberg | Houston Chronicle | "for vividly-written, groundbreaking columns aboutgrand jury abuses that led to a wrongful conviction and other egregious problems in the legal and immigration systems."[2] |
|---|
| David Carr | The New York Times | "for columns on the media whose subjects range from threats to cable television's profit-making power toISIS's use of modern media to menace its enemies."[a] |
| Matthew Kaminski | The Wall Street Journal | "for columns from Ukraine, sometimes reported near heavy fighting, deepening readers' insights into the causes behind theconflict with Russia and the nature and motives of the people involved." |
| 2016 | Farah Stockman | The Boston Globe | "for extensively reported columns that probe thelegacy of busing in Boston and itseffect on education in the city with a clear eye on ongoing racial contradictions."[3] |
|---|
| Nicholas Kristof | The New York Times | "for courageously reported and deeply felt columns focused on the crisis ofrefugees from Syria and other war-torn regions." |
| Steve Lopez | Los Angeles Times | "for richly nuanced columns written in an elegant voice illuminating huge inequalities in wealth and opportunity in contemporary Los Angeles." |
| 2017 | Peggy Noonan | The Wall Street Journal | "for rising to the moment with beautifully rendered columns that connected readers to the shared virtues of Americans during one of the nation's mostdivisive political campaigns."[4] |
|---|
| Dahleen Glanton | Chicago Tribune | "for bold, clear columns by a writer who cast aside sacred cows and conventional wisdom to speak powerfully and passionately about politics and race in Chicago and beyond." |
| Trudy Rubin | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "for eloquent commentary written in world hotspots fromMolenbeek near Brussels to the chancelleries ofBeijing, reminding Americans of the importance of the foreign beat during a year when their tendency was to turn inward." |
| 2018 | John Archibald | Alabama Media Group | "for for lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted inAlabama but has a national resonance in scrutinizing corrupt politicians, championing the rights of women and calling out hypocrisy."[5] |
|---|
| Jelani Cobb | The New Yorker | "for combining masterful writing with a deep knowledge of history and a deft reporter's touch to bring context and clarity to the issue of race at a time when respectful dialogue on the subject often gives way to finger-pointing and derision." |
| Steve Lopez | Los Angeles Times | "for graceful columns rich in detail that vividly illustrated how the cripplingcost of housing in California is becoming an existential crisis for the state." |
| 2019 | Tony Messenger | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "for bold columns that exposed the malfeasance and injustice of forcing poor rural Missourians charged with misdemeanor crimes to pay unaffordable fines or be sent to jail."[6] |
|---|
| Caitlin Flanagan | The Atlantic | "for luminous columns that expertly explore the intersection of gender and politics with a personal, yet keenly analytical, point of view." |
| Melinda Henneberger | The Kansas City Star | "for examining, in spare and courageous writing, institutional sexism and misogyny within herhometown NFL team, herformer governor's office and the Catholic Church." |
| 2020 | Nikole Hannah-Jones | The New York Times | "for a sweeping, deeply reported and personal essay for the ground-breaking1619 Project, which seeks to place theenslavement of Africans at the center of America's story, prompting public conversation about the nation's founding and evolution."[1] |
|---|
| Sally Jenkins | The Washington Post | "for columns that marshal a broad knowledge of history and culture to remind the sports world of its responsibility to uphold basic values of equity, fairness and tolerance." |
| Steve Lopez | Los Angeles Times | "for purposeful columns about risinghomelessness in Los Angeles, which amplified calls for government action to deal with a long-visible public crisis." |
| 2021 | Michael Paul Williams | Richmond Times-Dispatch | "for penetrating and historically insightful columns that guidedRichmond, a formercapital of the Confederacy, through the painful and complicated process ofdismantling the city's monuments to white supremacy."[1] |
|---|
| Melinda Henneberger | The Kansas City Star | "for tenacious and deeply reported columns on failures in the criminal justice system, forcefully arguing how systemic problems and abuses affect the larger community." |
| Roy Johnson | Alabama Media Group | "for evocative columns on race and remembrance written with style, urgency, and moral clarity." |
| 2022 | Melinda Henneberger | The Kansas City Star | "for persuasive columns demanding justice for alleged victims of a retired police detective accused of being a sexual predator."[7] |
|---|
| Julian Aguon | The Atlantic | "for an illuminating essay that explores the familiar threats of climate change through the lesser-known stories ofIndigenous Pacific Island communities who are fighting rising seas with a resilience that is both heartbreaking and hopeful." |
| Zeynep Tufekci | The Atlantic | "for her insightful, often prescient, columns on the pandemic and American culture, published inThe New York Times andThe Atlantic, that brought clarity to the shifting official guidance and compelled us towards greater compassion and informed response." |
| The New York Times |
| 2023 | Kyle Whitmire | Alabama Media Group | "for measured and persuasive columns that document howAlabama's Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion, told through tours of its first capital, its mansions and monuments—and through the history that has been omitted."[8] |
|---|
| Xochitl Gonzalez | The Atlantic | "for thoughtful, versatile and entertaining columns that explore how gentrification and the predominant white culture in the U.S. stifle the physical and emotional expression of racial minorities."[b] |
| Monica Hesse | The Washington Post | "for columns that convey the anger and dread that many Americans felt aboutlosing their right to abortion after the Supreme CourtoverturnedRoe v. Wade. |
| 2024 | Vladimir Kara-Murza | The Washington Post | "for passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences ofdissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country."[9] |
|---|
| Jay Caspian Kang | The New Yorker | "for original columns that force us to reexamine popular narratives and reframe such critical topics as affirmative action, racial politics and the portrayal of gun violence." |
| Brian Lyman | Alabama Reflector | "for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer." |
| 2025 | Mosab Abu Toha | The New Yorker | "for essays on thephysical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience of more than a year and a half ofwar with Israel." |
|---|
| Gustavo Arellano | Los Angeles Times | "for vivid columns reported from across theSouthwest that shattered stereotypes and probed complex shifts in politics in anelection year whenLatinos were pivotal voters." |
| Jerry Brewer | The Washington Post | "for his perceptive and informed use of sports to examine critical social divisions in America through difficult conversations about race, gender and media bias." |
.png)
