Lewinson and Hough jointly receive Pulitzer Newspaper History Award

On 6 May 1918, while still a student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Minna Lewinson and her classmate Henry Beetle Hough were formally recognized as joint recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for Newspaper History. Their winning research paper, "A History of the Services Rendered to the Public by the American Press During the Year 1917," examined how American newspapers served readers during the tumultuous war year.

The Pulitzer jury characterized the work as the best study of the press’s public service during that period, highlighting its historical method and careful documentation. For student researchers to receive a Pulitzer was unusual in itself, but Lewinson and Hough’s award carried additional significance: the Newspaper History category would be granted only once in the prize’s history, leaving them as its sole laureates.

For Lewinson, this joint recognition cemented her status as an early analyst of journalism and contributed to her subsequent hiring by The Wall Street Journal as its first woman copy editor later in 1918. For Hough, it preluded a distinguished career in newspaper editing and authorship. The shared award underscores the collaborative intellectual environment of Columbia’s journalism program at the time, while also revealing how scholarly work on the press itself could be deemed worthy of the highest honors normally reserved for practicing journalists. This date thus stands as the moment when their academic inquiry was elevated to national prominence, influencing both of their professional trajectories.