John Archibald, who has spent nearly four decades at AL.com as a reporter, columnist and podcaster, has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Columbia University announced the addition of Archibald, a two-time Pulitzer winner, and two other new board members – Gina Chua of Semafor and poet Natasha Trethewey – on Sunday. The 19-member board, composed of top journalists and news executives across the United States and academics and leaders in the arts, oversees the Pulitzer Prize awards.
“It’s a ridiculous honor and I am proud to do it,” Archibald said. “I really do feel like it is important for local journalism in a place like Alabama to have representation. It says a lot about AL.com that they help us do the kind of work that draws this kind of attention.”
Archibald won the Pulitzer for Commentary in 2018 for his “lyrical and courageous” columns. He also served as the lead reporter on AL.com’s 2023 Local Reporting Prize-winning investigation of predatory policing in the town of Brookside.
Archibald wrote and co-hosted “Unjustifiable” in 2021, the national Murrow Award-winning podcast that detailed the story of a Black woman killed by Birmingham police in 1979. Also in 2021, he wrote “Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution,” praised by NPR for books published that year.
Archibald was the inaugural writer in residence at Boston University in 2023 and a Nieman fellow at Harvard University for 2020-2021.
“This is a big deal for Alabama,” said Challen Stephens, investigative editor at AL.com. “John has dedicated himself to covering news in Alabama, uncovering stories that matter to the people who live here, stories that can help change lives here, and it’s welcome to see that dedication recognized at the highest national level.”
