WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - US author Colson Whitehead has achieved the rare honor of winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for a second time.
The African-American writer is only the fourth person ever to win the coveted prize twice in its century-old history.
Whitehead was adjudged the best fiction writer for his novel The Nickel Boys, which tells the devastating story of abuse of black boys at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
He wins a prize money of $15,000.
The jury praised the literary work as 'a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption.'
The 50-year-old New Yorker brilliantly dramatizes the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy,
'Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers,' says a note from the book's publisher.
The author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction, Whitehead is also the recipient of the National Book Award, and MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships.
Whitehead's New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad won the Pulitzer prize in 2017.
Pulitzer Prize is the highest honor for US-based newspapers, magazines, online journalism, literature, and musical composition.
The New York Times won three awards in journalism category, including the prestigious investigative reporting prize for Brian Rosenthal's expose of New York City's taxi industry.
The Anchorage Daily News won the Pulitzer prize for public service journalism, in recognition of its work on the lack of police coverage in many small towns in Alaska.
Reuters' images of last year's Hong Kong protests were selected for best breaking news photography.
The announcement of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes, in 15 journalism and seven arts and letters categories, was made by Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy from her home in New York.
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