And at that time, the early 1900s, it was the advent of the Pulitzer Prizes that rescued papers from the riptide of sensational “yellow journalism.” With the first Pulitzers in 1917, reporters and editors suddenly found themselves mentioned alongside celebrated novelists and playwrights. Founder Joseph Pulitzer’s idea to elevate the best US newspapers helped usher in an era of excellent journalism.

Today, if the Pulitzers recognized excellence across a wider range of print and electronic content, they could help lift journalism once more.

While I don’t think that journalism itself is in much trouble at the moment (newspapers, yes. journalism, not so much), I do think it’s high time the most notable awards in the industry start to recognize that said industry’s best work is rarely produced and even less frequently experienced on paper.