Colson Whitehead has won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Nickel Boys.

The Nickel Boys is based on the history of a real ‘reform’ school in 1960s Florida, where the systematic abuse of its African American students is masked by the school’s claims to provide moral training.

The Pulitzer judges commented: ‘A spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption.’

This is the second time that Whitehead has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He won back in 2017 for his novel, The Underground Railroad, which is currently being adapted for a TV series by acclaimed screenwriter-director Barry Jenkins.

Other winning books from this year’s Pulitzer Prizes include…

• The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin(General Nonfiction – co-winner)
• The Undying by Anne Boyer (General Nonfiction – co-winner)
• Sontag by Benjamin Moser (Biography)
• Sweet Taste of Liberty by W. Caleb McDaniel (History)
• The Tradition by Jericho Brown (Poetry)

This year, the Pulitzer judges also awarded a posthumous citation to Ida B. Wells – an early pioneer of investigative journalism and civil rights icon.

To find the full list of prize winners and finalists please visit the Pulitzer Prize website.