The first Asian American ever elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board was Viet Thanh Nguyen. His achievement was groundbreaking — the first Asian American voting member on the final panel that chooses Pulitzer Prize winners. But he remains alone. Nguyen’s election came only in 2020, more than a century after the Pulitzer Prizes were first awarded, honoring the best in journalism, literature and the arts. Nearly two years later, Nguyen remains the only Asian American in that room.
