Ernest Hemingway and the Pulitzer Prize.

The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to twenty-one deserving individuals each year. Joseph Pulitzer was a revered journalist renown for his writing who worked his way up to the top of the ladder to become an ambitious newspaper publisher. In 1953, Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his book, The Old Man and the Sea. This seems very appropriate because the style of Hemingway's writing can be compared to the way a journalist must write for a newspaper.

Hemingway writes brief, descriptive sentences that leave room for the reader to use their imagination while getting across the point simply without over-embellishing. Also, when his characters say something in his writing, it is usually the way people would really say it. This can be compared to the way a journalist has to write. A journalist must write very factual statements and must not put in too much explanation about one thing.

Pulitzer Museum, St Louis, Architect Tadao Ando

Pulitzer Trophy - front view - Smithsonian Air and...

Pulitzer Trophy - side view - Smithsonian Air and ...

Since Pulitzer was a journalist, he would have probably given his award to Hemingway himself if he were alive, so it is almost as if the Pulitzer board was carrying out the wishes of the deceased Pulitzer.

Another support of the latter statement can be found in Pulitzer's will, which once again shows that the board's decision to give the award to Hemingway seems like the execution of Pulitzer's last wishes.

"I am deeply interested in the progress and elevation of journalism, having spent my life in that profession, regarding it as a noble profession and one of unequaled importance for its influence upon the minds and morals of the people. I desire to assist in attracting to this profession young men of character and ability, also to help those already engaged in the profession to acquire the highest moral and intellectual training."

Hemingway fits the description above...