The 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced yesterday -- except in Fiction (and Editorial Writing), where they couldn't settle on a winner and so decided: no prize.
The three fiction finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia ! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace (yes, death can't keep you from a Pulitzer -- but the Pulitzer board can). Not surprisingly, none of these titles are under review at the complete review, so I can't judge whether anyone got shafted (though I am surprised they didn't just give the award to someone ...).
Not giving out the prize actually isn't that uncommon: it is the first time in a quarter of a century they failed, but they had a good streak going in the 1970s -- no fiction prizes awarded 1971, 1974, or 1977 -- and they usually skipped about one a decade.
At Salon one-time Pulitzer fiction prize juror Laura Miller offers a bit more background regarding the whole selection process, in Pulitzers snub fiction, noting that:
(Note also that: "Anyone can submit his or her book to the Pulitzer competition for a small fee, and believe me: anyone does", but that is, of course, an exaggeration, and no doubt many worthy titles go unsubmitted every year because the publisher or writer wasn't willing to pay the $50.00 "handling fee" (plus four copies of the book) -- note for example that The New York Times couldn't even be bothered to submit International Reporting-winner Jeffrey Gettleman's reports; he submitted them himself ... (see, for example, Amy Chozick's report).)
The three fiction finalists were Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia ! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace (yes, death can't keep you from a Pulitzer -- but the Pulitzer board can). Not surprisingly, none of these titles are under review at the complete review, so I can't judge whether anyone got shafted (though I am surprised they didn't just give the award to someone ...).
Not giving out the prize actually isn't that uncommon: it is the first time in a quarter of a century they failed, but they had a good streak going in the 1970s -- no fiction prizes awarded 1971, 1974, or 1977 -- and they usually skipped about one a decade.
At Salon one-time Pulitzer fiction prize juror Laura Miller offers a bit more background regarding the whole selection process, in Pulitzers snub fiction, noting that:
From the many submissions, the jury picks three titles to recommend to the Pulitzer Board, and the board picks the actual winner, as well as selecting the winners of all the other Pulitzer Prizes. The board does have the option to select a title not on the jury's list, but it rarely does so nowadays.(The board is, of course, made up of journalism-folk -- "most with a deep respect for literature but relatively little familiarity with the literary world", as Miller diplomatically puts it .....)
(Note also that: "Anyone can submit his or her book to the Pulitzer competition for a small fee, and believe me: anyone does", but that is, of course, an exaggeration, and no doubt many worthy titles go unsubmitted every year because the publisher or writer wasn't willing to pay the $50.00 "handling fee" (plus four copies of the book) -- note for example that The New York Times couldn't even be bothered to submit International Reporting-winner Jeffrey Gettleman's reports; he submitted them himself ... (see, for example, Amy Chozick's report).)