Colson Whitehead's 'The Nickel Boys,' Anthony Davis' 'Central Park Five' win Pulitzer Prizes

"The Nickel Boys," Colson Whitehead's searing examination of racism and inequality at a Florida reform school in the 1960s, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the organization's board announced Monday.

Whitehead, who won the 2017 prize in the same category for "The Underground Railroad," was praised by the Pulitzer committee for "a spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption."

"The Nickel Boys," which chronicles the abuse experienced by black boys at the juvenile reform school, is inspired by horrific stories from the real-life Dozier School for Boys.

The Fiction award was one of 23 prize categories announced Monday: 15 for journalism, seven for arts and letters and one special citation for Ida B. Wells for "courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans" in the lynching era.

Although the prizes, which cover work that pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic, the announcement itself was affected by the crisis. The ceremony was delayed from its original April 20 date and the announcement was made on YouTube Monday by Pulitzer administrator Dana Canedy from home, instead of at a news conference at New York's Columbia University.

"The Nickel Boys" debuted at No. 3 on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list when it was released in July. It remained in the top 150 for 10 weeks.

Lasting influence: 'The Nickel Boys' is a literary achievement. Will Colson Whitehead win another Pulitzer?

In USA TODAY, Mark Athitakis awarded the novel ★★★★ out of 4 stars. He wrote: "'The Nickel Boys' is straight-ahead realism, distinguished by its clarity and its open conversation with other black writers: It quotes from or evokes the work of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and more. Whitehead has made an overt bid to stand in their company – to write a novel that’s memorable, and teachable, for years to come."

Other arts prize winners and their citations include:

? Drama: "A Strange Loop," Michael R. Jackson

"A meta?ctional musical that tracks the creative process of an artist transforming issues of identity, race, and sexuality that once pushed him to the margins of the cultural mainstream into a meditation on universal human fears and insecurities."

? History: "Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America," W. Caleb McDaniel

"A masterfully researched meditation on reparations based on the remarkable story of a 19th century woman who survived kidnapping and re-enslavement to sue her captor."

? Biography: "Sontag: Her Life and Work," Benjamin Moser

"An authoritatively constructed work told with pathos and grace, that captures the writer’s genius and humanity alongside her addictions, sexual ambiguities and volatile enthusiasms."

? Poetry: "The Tradition," Jericho Brown

"A collection of masterful lyrics that combine delicacy with historical urgency in their loving evocation of bodies vulnerable to hostility and violence."

? General Nonfiction (two winners): "The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America," Greg Grandin

"A sweeping and beautifully written book that probes the American myth of boundless expansion and provides a compelling context for thinking about the current political moment." (The Pulitzer board moved this from the History category.)

"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care," Anne Boyer

"An elegant and unforgettable narrative about the brutality of illness and the capitalism of cancer care in America."

? Music: "The Central Park Five," Anthony Davis

"Premiered on June 15, 2019 at the Long Beach Opera, a courageous operatic work, marked by powerful vocal writing and sensitive orchestration, that skillfully transforms a notorious example of contemporary injustice into something empathetic and hopeful. Libretto by Richard Wesley."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pulitzer Prize: Colson Whitehead wins again for 'The Nickel Boys'