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2022 Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize- Origin and History 11
 The Pulitzer Prize is the most coveted award for journalists from across the world. It is
announced every year by the Columbia University of the United States.
 The Pulitzer Prize or the Pulitzer Awards have been named after Joseph Pulitzer Hungarian-
American politician and newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York
World.
 Born to a wealthy family of Magyar-Jewish origin in Mako, Hungary, in 1847, Joseph Pulitzer had
a stint in the military before he built a reputation of being a ―tireless journalist‖.
 In the late 1860s, he joined the German-language daily newspaper Westliche Post, and by 25 he
had become a publisher. In 1878, he became the owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Under
him, the paper published several ―investigative articles and editorials assailing government
corruption, wealthy tax-dodgers, and gamblers‖. In 1883, he also negotiated the purchase of The
New York World, which was in financial straits and elevated its circulation.
 In 1884, he was elected to the US House of Representatives from New York’s ninth district as a
Democrat. During his tenure, he led a movement to place the newly gifted Statue of Liberty in
New York City.
 The awards were instituted according to Pulitzer’s will, framed in 1904, where he made a
provision for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes as an incentive to excellence. Pulitzer
specified solely four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and five
for travelling scholarships.
 In his will, Pulitzer bestowed an endowment on Columbia of $2,000,000 for the establishment of
a School of Journalism, one-fourth of which was to be ―applied to prizes or scholarships for the
encouragement of public service, public morals, American literature, and the advancement of
education.
 After his death in 1911, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in June, 1917.

Indians who have won the Award

 In 1937, Gobind Behari Lal became the first Indian to win a Pulitzer. The Indian-American
journalist won the award in the reporting category with four others, for coverage of science at
the tercentenary of Harvard University. He interviewed the likes of Albert Einstein and
Mahatma Gandhi.
 In 2000, London-born Indian-American writer Jhumpa Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for
her debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies.
 In 2003, Mumbai-born Geeta Anand was part of the team at Wall Street Journal that won a
Pulitzer Prize for reporting on corporate corruption.
 In 2011, Siddhartha Mukherjee (Indian-American physician, biologist and author) won the
Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his demystification of cancer in The Emperor of All
Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
 In 2016, Indian-American Sanghamitra Kalita, then Managing Editor of Los Angeles Times, won
the Pulitzer in the Breaking News Reporting category with her team for their coverage of the
San Bernardino shooting in California in 2015 and the terror investigation that followed
 In the Feature Photography Category, Danish Siddiqui, killed on July 16, 2021, while covering a
clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban forces in Kandahar, was awarded the Pulitzer
in 2018 for his images of the Rohingya refugee crisis. He was part of the team from Reuters that
bagged the award, which included another co-recipient from this year, Adnan Abidi.

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In 2020, Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of Associated Press won the Pulitzer in the

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Feature Photography category 'for striking images captured during a communications blackout in
Kashmir depicting life after the abrogation of Article 370.

2022 Pulitzer Prize

 Presently, there are 22 Pulitzer categories. In 21 of those categories, the winners receive a
$15,000 cash award and a certificate. Only the winner in the Public Service category of the
Journalism competition is awarded a gold medal.
 The 2022 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded by the Pulitzer Prize Board for work during the 2021
calendar year on May 9, 2022.
 The awards highlighted coverage of major stories in the U.S. that year, including the January 6
attack on the U.S. Capitol, for which The Washington Post won the Public Service prize,
considered the most prestigious award. The New York Times received three awards, the most
of any publication. Insider received its first Pulitzer
 The Editorial Cartooning prize was superseded in 2022 by the revamped category of Illustrated
Reporting and Commentary. No winner was selected in the former category in 2021, which
drew controversy.
 A team of four Indian photographers from the Reuters news agency also won the Award this
year. They include the slain photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo
and Amit Dave for feature photography for their coverage of the Covid-19 crisis in India.

Adnan Adibi
 In 2017, Abidi covered the exodus of Rohingyas and he and his colleague Danish Siddiqui became
the first Indians to win a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography as part of the photography staff
of Reuters.
 He won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for his coverage of the 2019–20
Hong Kong protests.
 In 2022, Abidi's work was part of another Pulitzer Prize-winning photography package which
covered the COVID-19 pandemic in India, increasing his tally to three Pulitzer Prizes.

Danish Siddiqui
 In 2018, he became the first Indian alongside Adnan Abidi to win the Pulitzer Prize for Feature
Photography (as part of the Photography staff of Reuters) for documenting the 2015 Rohingya
refugee crisis
 In 2022, Danish's photography of the Covid-19 Pandemic in India was part of another Pulitzer
Prize in Feature Photography winning photography package, increasing his tally to two Pulitzer
Prizes.

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2022 Ramon Magsaysay Awards
Introduction 11
 The Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s highest and premier honour. The award is regarded as
the Asian version of the Nobel Prize.
 From 1958 to 2008, the Award was given in six categories annually:
1. Government Service, to recognize outstanding service in the public interest in any branch
of government, including the executive, judicial, legislative, or military;
2. Public Service, to recognize outstanding service for the public good by a private citizen;
3. Community Leadership- To recognize leadership of a community toward helping the
disadvantaged have fuller opportunities and a better life;
4. Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts- To recognize effective
writing, publishing, or photography or the use of radio, television, cinema, or the
performing arts as a power for the public good;
5. Peace and International Understanding- To recognize contributions to the
advancement of friendship, tolerance, peace, and solidarity as the foundations for
sustainable development within and across countries; and
6. Emergent Leadership-To recognize an individual, forty years of age or younger, for
outstanding work on issues of social change in his or her community, but whose leadership
may not yet be broadly recognized outside of this community.
 The category of Emergent Leadership was inaugurated in 2000 and is supported by a grant
from the Ford Foundation.
 Starting in 2009, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is no longer being given in fixed Award categories,
except for Emergent Leadership.
 The Ramon Magsaysay Award is presented in formal ceremonies in Manila, the Philippines on
August 31st, the birth anniversary of the much-esteemed Philippine President whose ideals
inspired the Award’s creation in 1957.

Origin and History

 The Award has been named after Ramon Magsaysay, the former President of the Philippines.
Born on August 31, 1907, to a father who worked as a blacksmith and a mother who was a
teacher, Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Senior was the seventh president of the Philippines, from
1953 until his death in an air crash in 1957.
 Magsaysay started out as an automobile mechanic before being drafted into the Pacific War
(1941-1945), during World War II. The Pacific War would see the Japanese occupation of the
Philippines — then a colony of the US — for nearly four years. The US formally recognised the
Philippines as an independent nation in 1946.
 As a guerrilla leader resisting the Japanese occupation, Magsaysay’s bravery and leadership saw
his appointment as a military governor. In 1946, he would be elected under the Liberal Party to
the Philippine House of Representatives, where he would serve two terms as a Congressman
before being appointed secretary of National Defence in 1950. On December 30, 1953, he
would be elected president of the Nationalist Party, the oldest political party in the Philippines.
 In 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay award was set up by trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
and the Philippine government to carry forward Magsaysay’s legacy of service to the people,
good governance, and pragmatic idealism.
 In the six decades since 1958 — the first year the Award was given out — over 300
organisations and individuals have been recognised for their developmental endeavours crucial to

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Asia, and, consequently, to the world. The award is given out every year on August 31, on

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Magsaysay’s birth anniversary.

Past Indian Winners

 Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Indian to receive the award in the year 1958 for the
Bhoodan movement.
 Other Prominent Indian Winners

TN Seshan 1996 Former election commissioner

MS Subbulakshmi 1974 Singer
Satyajit Ray 1967 Filmmaker
RK Laxman 1984 Cartoonist
Dr Verghese Kurien 1963 Agricultural scientist
MS Swaminathan 1971 Scientist
Prakash Amte 2008 Indian medical doctor
P Sainath 2007 Indian Columnist and author

 In recent years, Arvind Kejriwal (2006), Anshu Gupta of Goonj (2015), human rights activist
Bezwada Wilson (2016), and journalist Ravish Kumar (2019) have won the award.

The 2022 Award

 The 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Award winners included Gary Bencheghib (Indonesia), Bernadette
Madrid (Philippines), Sotheara Chhim (Cambodia), and Tadashi Hattori (Japan)
 In 2022 former Health Minister of Kerala, KK Shailja had also been nominated for the award for
her work during the times of COVID-19 and the Nipah virus. However, she denied the award
stating the anti-communist stance of Ramon Magsaysay goes against her party’s ideals
(Communist Party of India- Marxist).

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56th Jnanpith Award
Origin and History of the Award
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The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by
the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their ―outstanding contribution towards literature‖. Its
name has been taken from Sanskrit words Jnana and Pitha which literally means the seat of
knowledge.
 It is awarded every year by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a research and cultural institute founded in
1944 by industrialist Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family.
 Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian writers writing in Indian languages
included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and English, with no posthumous
conferral.
 From 1965 (the year it was first awarded) to 1981, the award was given to the authors for their
"most outstanding work" and consisted of a citation plaque, a cash prize and a bronze replica
of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom.
 The first recipient of the award was the Malayalam writer G. Sankara Kurup who received the
award in 1965 for his collection of poems, Odakkuzhal (The Bamboo Flute), published in 1950.
The rules were revised in subsequent years to consider only works published during the
preceding twenty years, excluding the year for which the award was to be given.
 In 1976, Bengali novelist Ashapoorna Devi became the first woman to win the award and was
honoured for the 1965 novel Prothom Protishruti (The First Promise), the first in a trilogy.
 Prior to 1982, the award was only given for a single work by a writer. But after 1982, the award
is given for lifetime contribution to Indian literature.
 In 2019, author Amitav Ghosh became the first English language writer to be given the Jnanpith
Award.

The 56th Jnanpith Aqard

 The 56th Jnanpith Award (for the year 2021) was awarded to eminent Assamese poet Nilamani
Phookan. It was the first time that the ceremony was held in the state of Assam.
 Phookan is the third Assamese to receive the Jnanpith Award after novelist Birendra Kumar
Bhattacharya (1979) and Mamoni Raisom Goswami (2000).
 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Chairperson of Jnanpith Selection Board
Pratibha Ray handed over the trophy, cheque and other mementoes to the 88-year-old
celebrated poet, known for his pro-people writings.
 The 57th Jnanpith Award (for the year 2022) will be awarded to Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo

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Thomas Cup and Uber Cup
Thomas Cup 11
 The Thomas Cup is named after George Alan Thomas, an English player from the 1900s who
proposed the idea of a championship tournament for badminton, borrowing from the World
Cup in football and the Davis Cup in tennis. He proposed the idea to the then International
Badminton Federation (IBF), now known as the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The
tournament is organized between the BWF member nations
 The cup is sometimes also called as the World Men’s Team Championships. The tournament
was first conducted in the year 1948-49 (in England & Wales, won by Malaysia) and was
conducted every three years till 1982. Since 1982 it is being conducted every two years.
 The final phase of the tournament involves 12 teams competing at venues within the host nation
and is played concurrently with the final phase of the world women's team championships,
the Uber Cup (first held in 1956–1957). Since 1984, the two Cups have been held jointly at the
various stages of play. Thomas Cup and, to a lesser extent, Uber Cup are some of the world's
"biggest" and most prestigious regularly held badminton events in terms of player and fan
interest.
 Of the 30 Thomas Cup tournaments held from 1948–1949, only six countries have won the
title. Indonesia is the most successful team, having won 14 times. China, which did not begin to
compete until 1982, trails Indonesia with 10 titles, while Malaysia has won 5 titles.
 Japan became the fourth country to win the Thomas Cup in 2014. Denmark became the first
European and the fifth nation overall to win the Thomas Cup after beating Indonesia 3–2 in the
2016 final This marked the first and only time a non-Asian team won the championship. India is
the current champion, having won its first title after beating title holders Indonesia in the 2022
edition. The 2022 Edition was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Uber Cup
 The Uber Cup, sometimes called the World Women's Team Championships, is a major
international badminton competition contested by women's national badminton teams. First
held in 1956–1957 and contested at three-year intervals, it has been contested every two years
since 1984 when its scheduled times and venues were merged with those of Thomas Cup, the
world men's team championship.
 The Uber Cup is named after a former British women's badminton player, Betty Uber, who in
1950 had the idea of hosting a women's event similar to the men. She also made the draw for
the 1956–1957 inaugural tournament, which took place at Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire,
England.
 The cup follows a similar format to that of the men's competition of the Thomas Cup. China is
the most successful team, having won 15 titles. Japan is second, having won it six times,
followed by Indonesia and United States, each with three cups. South Korea are the current
champions, having won its second title after beating title holders China in the 2022 edition.
(Held in Bangkok, Thailand)

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Practice Questions:
1. Which organization/institution awards the Pulitzer Prize every year?
A. Stanford University
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B. Harvard University
C. University of Cambridge
D. Columbia University
2. In which year were the first Pulitzer Prizes awarded?
A. 1911
B. 1912
C. 1916
D. 1917
3. Who is the first Indian to have won the Pulitzer Prize?
A. Satyajit Ray
B. Ram Kinker Baij
C. Gobind Behari Lal
D. Abanindra Nath Tagore
4. Name the now-slain Indian journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in 2018 and 2022.
A. Adnan Adibi
B. Danish Siddiqui
C. Mukhtar Khan
D. Dar Yasin
5. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded in how many categories?
A. 21
B. 22
C. 23
D. 24
6. Choose the correct option from the following.
(i) From 1958 to 2008, the Jannpith Award was given in six categories annually. But starting in
2009, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is no longer being given in fixed Award categories,
except for Emergent Leadership.
(ii) The category of Emergent Leadership was inaugurated in 2000 and is supported by a grant
from the Ford Foundation.
A. (i) is true, (ii) is false
B. (ii) is true, (i) is false
C. Both (i) and (ii) are true
D. Both (i) and (ii) are false
7. Name the first Indian to have won the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
A. Acharya Vinoba Bhave
B. Jwaharlal Nehru
C. Badruddin Taiyyabji
D. Acharya Kriplani
8. Name the former Indian Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) who won the Ramon Magsaysay
Award in 1996.
A. OP Rawat
B. TN Seshan
C. Rajiv Joshi
D. Sunil Sharma

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 9.
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Name the former Kerala Health Minister who denied the 2022 Ramona Magsaysay Award?

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A. NN Thomas
B. KK Shailja
C. Bijoe Emmanuel
D. RN Romy
10. Who is the current President of Phillipines?
A. Bongbong Marcos
B. Che Guevara
C. Mohammad Gadafi
D. Rodrigo Duterte
11. Which author has received Jnanpith Award for the year 2021?
A. Damodar Mauzo
B. Bhupen Hazarika
C. Daynanand Ghose
D. Nilamani Phookan
12. Who is the first English writer to have won the Jnanpith Award 2022?
A. Amitav Ghosh
B. Jhumpa Lahiri
C. Kiran Desai
D. Nirad Chaudhary
13. The first Jnanpith Award was awarded to an author of which language?
A. Kannada
B. Malyalam
C. Tamil
D. Telugu
14. Choose the correct option from the following.
(i) The Jnanpith Award is given only to the Indian writers
(ii) Prior to 1982, the award was only given for a single work by a writer. But after 1982, the
award is given for lifetime contribution to Indian literature.
A. (i) is true, (ii) is false
B. (ii) is true, (i) is false
C. Both (i) and (ii) are true
D. Both (i) and (ii) are false
15. Which author will be receiving the 57th Jnanpith Award for the year 2022?
A. Damodar Mauzo
B. Bhupen Hazarika
C. Daynanand Ghose
D. Nilamani Phookan
16. The award is awarded every year by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a research and cultural institute
founded in 1944 by industrialist ________.
A. Jamnalal Bajaj
B. Ghanshyam Das Birla
C. GD Goenka
D. Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain
17. Choose the correct option from the following.
(i) Both the Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup started in the same year, 1948-49.
(ii) No European team has won the Thomas Cup till now.
A. (i) is true, (ii) is false

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 B. (ii) is true, (i) is false
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C. Both (i) and (ii) are true
D. Both (i) and (ii) are false
18. Which country has won the maximum number of Thomas Cups?
A. China
B. Indonesia
C. Malaysia
D. India
19. Where was the 2022 Thomas Cup was organized?
A. Fuket, Thailand
B. Bangkok, Thailand
C. Borneo Islands, Indonesia
D. Jakarta, Indonesia
20. Which country won the 2022 Uber Cup?
A. India
B. China
C. Malaysia
D. South Korea

Answers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

D D C B B C A B B A

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

D A B C A D D B B D

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