Since 1943, the Pulitzer Prize in Music has been awarded almost exclusively to classical and academic musicians. Thanks to Jay Harris and a Pulitzer Board committee he chaired, that appears to be changing.
Harris, the director of the Center for the Study of Journalism and Democracy and holder of the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Democracy, said the committee helped change the definition of the award. The Board in 2004 revised its guidelines to encourage more entrants from fields such as Broadway, jazz and movie scores. The change also allowed compositions that made their debut as a recording, instead of a performance, to be considered.
"We were not seeing the full range of American music, and very much wanted to because we thought music in other genres often represented the best America had to offer," he said.
On April 16, the changes Harris' committee sparked paid off. Jazz legend Ornette Coleman became the first musician to win a Pulitzer for jazz (Wynton Marsalis won in 1997 for "Blood on the Fields," but it was more of a theater score). It is a sign that the Pulitzer culture is changing.
"That was as a result of the music study committee of the Pulitzer prize," he said. "I was both honored to be asked to do it and pleased with the result. It took a lot of work, and I want to say that we had enormous help from the staff, led by the administrator Sig Gissler."
Harris told the Associated Press in an April 16 article that the Pulitzer Prize has in the past "effectively excluded some of the best of American music" by concentrating fully on classical and academic works. Because of Harris and the Board, it looks like that is no longer the case.
"We’ve been quite pleased with the progress, and I think that over the years, you will see a greater range of the best of American music being considered for – and as appropriate winning – the Pulitzer Prize for music," he said.
