First woman to win any journalism-related Pulitzer Prize

On 6 May 1918, Minna Lewinson achieved the broader distinction of becoming the first woman to win any journalism-related Pulitzer Prize. While the prize she shared with Henry Beetle Hough was formally categorized as Newspaper History, it belonged to the journalism side of the Pulitzer program rather than the literary or arts prizes.

At the time, the Pulitzer Prizes for reporting, editorial writing, and other journalism categories were still in their early years, and no woman had yet been recognized in these professional domains. Lewinson’s award therefore represents the first recorded instance of a woman’s work in journalism—whether as practitioner or analyst—being honored by the Pulitzer institution. Later chroniclers of Pulitzer history, including centennial statistical surveys of winners, have identified her 1918 victory as a foundational data point for tracking women’s participation in prize-winning journalism.

This milestone precedes by nearly twenty years the better-known breakthrough of Anne O’Hare McCormick, who became the first woman to win a reporting Pulitzer in 1937. By drawing attention to Lewinson’s precedence, recent scholarship has corrected earlier accounts that overlooked her or assumed women’s entry into Pulitzer-winning journalism began only in the late 1930s. The 6 May 1918 award thus stands as a key barrier-breaking moment: it not only recognized Lewinson’s specific research but also opened the historical record for subsequent generations of women whose journalism would earn Pulitzer acclaim. In this sense, her win reshapes our understanding of when—and how—women first entered the highest echelon of American journalistic honors.