Arts & Entertainmenthamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘Hamilton’ Just Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

By Pamela Kruger
Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role of the musical "Hamilton" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York.
Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role of the musical "Hamilton" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York, July 11, 2015. Hip-hop and musical theater seemingly have little overlap, but that is the space in which Miranda lives, the space that birthed ?Hamilton,? which opened last week to some of the strongest reviews in years. (Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)
PHOTOGRAPH BY SARA KRULWICH—The New York Times/Redux Pictures

The 2016 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded Monday, and in a decision that surprised virtually no one, the Broadway sensation “Hamilton” was awarded the Pulitzer for Drama. It was the first musical to win the coveted award since 2010.

Since its debut last summer, the hip hop musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton has received glowing reviews and become a sensation, grossing more than $60 million at the box office. A book for fans, Hamilton: The Revolution, was released earlier this month and immediately climbed to the top of the Amazon charts. Creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda has been given a MacArthur genius award, feted by the White House and earned a spot on Fortune’s latest list of the World’s Greatest Leaders.

After receiving the prize, Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted out his initial reaction.

Followed by his second reaction.

The Pulitzer Prize, established by Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalist founder Joseph Pulitzer, is celebrating its centennial. The prizes are awarded in 21 categories, and the winners in all but one category receive a cash prize of $10,000 for their work. (The journalism category’s Public Service winner is a news organization and receives a gold medal.)

Here are the winners:

Journalism

Public Service: The Associated Press

Breaking News Reporting: The Los Angeles Times

Investigative Reporting: Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay News and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Explanatory Reporting: T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Ken Armstrong of the Marshall Project

Local Reporting: Tampa Bay Times

National Reporting: The Washington Post

International Reporting: Alissa J. Rubin of The New York Times

Feature Writing: Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker

Commentary: Farah Stockman of the Boston Globe

Criticism: Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker

Editorial Writing: John Hackworth of Sun Newspapers, Charlotte Harbor, Florida

Editorial Cartooning: Jack Ohman of The Sacramento Bee

Breaking News Photography: Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks, Daniel Etter of the New York Times; and the photography staff of Thomson Reuters

Feature Photography: Jessica Rinaldi of the Boston Globe

Letters and Drama

Fiction: Viet Thanh Nguyen for The Sympathizer

Drama: Lin-Manuel Miranda for Hamilton

History: T.J. Stiles for Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America

Biography or Autobiography: William Finnegan for Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

Poetry: Peter Balakian for Ozone Journal

General Non-Fiction: Joby Warrick for Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

Music: Henry Threadgill for In for a Penny, In for a Pound

We’ve included affiliate links into this article. Click here to learn what those are.