Pulitzer Prize

To the head-scratching surprise of the music establishment that has thus far paid little attention to Ibarra, “Sky Islands” won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for music.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” which received the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year, was chosen as best play in a season showcasing a refreshingly wide range of ambitious playwriting.

Purpose, about an African-American family who reunite in Chicago, was named best play, a month after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Her previous work, “Prairie Fires,” a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, won the Pulitzer Prize and other accolades.

The race includes two plays that received the Pulitzer Prize, the 2023 winner, Sanaz Toossi’s “English” and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ newly awarded “Purpose.”