New Pulitzer Rules Allow Online Material

The Pulitzer Prize will allow newspapers to submit video and interactive graphics as part of their entries for the top award in American print journalism, prize officials announced Monday.

Allowing more online material "was the next logical step," said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzers. "It emphasizes blended journalism and that's where newspapers are today."

The Pulitzer Prize Board also replaced the Beat Reporting category, created in 1991, with a Local Reporting category.

For the awards handed out earlier this year, online material was allowed as part of all entries for the first time but limited to written stories or still images in 13 of the 14 categories. The exception was the Public Service category, which has allowed material such as streaming video and databases since 1999.

Entries for the 2007 Pulitzers may contain online material such as video, blogs, databases and interactive graphics for all print categories.

The photography categories remain restricted to still images. In the categories of breaking news reporting and breaking news photography, the board will continue to allow entries consisting solely of work published online. Other categories must include some material from the newspaper's print edition.

Creating the Local Reporting category "places particular emphasis on local news coverage, which is really the lifeblood of newspapers both in print and online," Gissler said. An entry can either be a special project or sustained coverage of city, state or regional issues that matter to the paper's core readership, Gissler said.

Beat reporters are still eligible to submit their work in other categories.

The new rules apply to work done during 2006 for prizes awarded in 2007. The deadline for entries is Feb. 1 and prizes will be announced April 16.