1975 Pulitzer Prize

1975 Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prizes for 1975, the 59th annual prizes, were ratified by the Pulitzer Prize advisory board on April 11, 1975 and by the trustees of Columbia University on May 5. For the first time, the role of accepting or rejecting recommendations of the advisory board was delegated by the trustees to the university's president, William J. McGill; the change was prompted by the desire of the trustees to distance themselves from the appearance of approval of controversial awards based on work involving what some considered to be illegal leaks, such as the 1972 Pulitzer Prize awarded for the publication of the Pentagon Papers.

It was also the first year that the prize for editorial cartooning went to a comic strip artist (Garry Trudeau, writer/artist of Doonesbury), and the first year that a film critic won a Pulitzer (Roger Ebert). Dumas Malone, 83, become the prize's oldest recipient.