Information Richness and Newspaper Pulitzer Prizes

A comparison of 30 stories that won or were nominated for newspaper Pulitzer Prizes with 30 matched newspaper enterprise stories from the 1985–1989 period suggests that, as hypothesized, the Pulitzer winners used more sources—reflecting more source diversity—and made greater use of such enterprise research techniques as use of library, document, and statistical sources. Winners used simple journalistic interviews proportionally less than did nonwinners. Entries from five Pulitzer Prize categories were examined, including the public service and investigative reporting categories.