September 11 coverage dominates Pulitzers

David McCullough wins second award

Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer

(CNN) -- History, past and present, dominated the 2002 Pulitzer Prizes, announced Monday.

The Pulitzer committee honored three newspapers -- The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal -- for coverage of the September 11 attacks.

In the arts and letters categories, David McCullough won for his biography of John Adams, Louis Menand won for his work on the influential philosophers of the post-Civil War era, and Diane McWhorter won for her memoir on the 1960s civil rights struggle in Birmingham, Alabama.

Richard Russo won the fiction award for his novel "Empire Falls."

'I've never worked with better material'

McCullough's Pulitzer, for his best-seller "John Adams," was his second. He also won in 1993 for "Truman," a biography of another president, Harry Truman.

Writing the book was a joy, he told CNN.com last year. "I've never worked with better material," he said. "It wasn't just for one [person] or another, but plentiful all the way through."

McCullough won on his wife Rosalee's birthday.

"It couldn't have happened on a more appropriate day, given that she's been so much involved all along," McCullough told The Associated Press.

PHOTO GALLERIES • Winning breaking news package on the September 11 terrorist attacks  • Winning feature package on the people of Afghanistan    MORE STORIES David McCullough brings 'John Adams' to life    EXTRA INFORMATION 2002 Pulitzer Prize winners list  • Pulitzer Prize Basics

Russo's fiction award was won over the favorite in the category, Jonathan Franzen's National Book Award-winning "The Corrections."

Menand's "The Metaphysical Club" won the Pulitzer in history.

In other categories, the Pulitzer committee honored Suzan-Lori Parks for her play "Topdog/Underdog," which has just opened on Broadway to rave reviews.

The play features two black brothers named Lincoln and Booth and touches on themes of sibling rivalry. The Broadway version, which stars Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def, follows a successful off-Broadway run last year, which starred Don Cheadle in the Mos Def role.

McWhorter won the Pulitzer in the general nonfiction category for her memoir of the Civil Rights struggle, "Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution." It was her first book.

"Oh my God," she told the AP upon receiving word of the prize. "I'm fainting now, lying on my bed. I've got my hands over my eyes.

"I am probably the first person in the world to say, 'I'm so lucky to be from Birmingham, Alabama,'" she said.

Carl Dennis won the Pulitzer for poetry for his work "Practical Gods."

The prize for music was awarded to Henry Brant for "Ice Field." Brant works in what is called "spatial music," in which the instruments are spread throughout the concert hall.

Journalism awards

The attacks of September 11 and their aftermath dominated the journalism prizes.

The New York Times -- which won seven awards total -- won for public service for its "A Nation Challenged" series following the terrorist attacks.

The paper's staff won the explanatory reporting award for its coverage that profiled the global terrorism network, and the paper's Tom Friedman won a Pulitzer for his columns on terrorism and Middle East politics. The Times also took home two Pulitzers for photography.

The Times also received awards for international reporting and beat reporting. Its seven awards are a record.

Also honored for September 11 coverage were The Washington Post, which won for its coverage of the war on terrorism; and The Wall Street Journal, for its coverage of the attacks when the staff was forced to evacuate the newsroom.

Other winners:

Each award is worth $7,500, with the exception of the public service award, which earns a gold medal for its paper. The prizes are awarded each year by Columbia University in New York. They were endowed by legendary newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the now defunct New York World.