White House Bureau Chief for the Washington Post and CNN analyst, Toluse Olorunnipa, has won the Pulitzer Prize–journalism’s most prestigious and highest award–for “His Name is George Floyd,” a Washington Post book which tells the story of Floyd’s life, death and his legacy.
George Perry Floyd Jr. was an African-American man who was murdered on May 25, 2020 by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest.
The officer put his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes until the latter could breathe no more.
Floyd’s death sparked global outrage and civil rights protests across the United States, not least for its racist undertone.
Olorunnipa won in the General Non-fiction category alongside former Post colleague Robert Samuels.
The Washington Post writes that; “In their biography of George Floyd, White House Bureau Chief Toluse Olorunnipa and former Post reporter Robert Samuels thoroughly reveal the systemic racism and inequality that come with being a Black man in America.
“Drawn from hundreds of interviews with Floyd’s family and friends and also politicians and civil rights leaders, their book placed the story of Floyd’s life and untimely death within a larger narrative, conveying why his killing sparked a global movement for a change.”
The Pulitzer Prize is an award administered by Columbia University for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States.
It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer.