Of the many journalism awards are handed out each year, none is more coveted than the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer Prize Board, established in 1917, awards several prizes annually to newspapers or online news sites for journalistic excellence. In this day of electronic news reporting, the Pulitzer Prize Board has been innovative in keeping up with changes in the industry.

In 1999, which was still relatively early in the days of the Internet, the board changed its rules to allow submission of online material that supplemented print journalism. In 2006, online content was allowed in all 14 journalism categories, and in 2009, online-only news organizations were allowed to submit work for Pulitzer consideration. In 2011, the rules were amended to allow entries that used slideshows, videos, or other multimedia as a means of reporting. The rules state explicitly that "entries may use any available journalistic tool, including text reporting, videos, databases, multimedia or interactive presentations or any combination of those formats."

This year, for the first time, one of the journalism honors was awarded for investigative reporting that appeared only online and not in print: ProPublica's series "The Wall Street Money Machine." The official Pulitzer Prize citation reads: "Awarded to Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein of ProPublica for their exposure of questionable practices on Wall Street that contributed to the nation's economic meltdown, using digital tools to help explain the complex subject to lay readers."

This was not the first Pulitzer for ProPublica, which describes itself as "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest." Sheri Fink was awarded the Investigative Reporting prize for her article about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that appeared both online and in the New York Times Magazine.

The future of reporting and journalism is changing quickly, and the Pulitzer Prize Board's willingness to recognize the technological advances in this important profession is Character Approved.

[Image: Pulitzer Prize Board]