Filipinas Hannah Reyes Morales, Nicole Dungca, and Ren Galeno are finalists for the prestigious 2024 Pulitzer Prizes for their world-class journalistic work.
Filipinos continue to shine in the international spotlight through their immense talent and dedication to their respective fields. Recent examples include visual artist Ren Galeno, Filipino-American investigative journalist Nicole Dungca, and photographer Hannah Reyes Morales. The three recently made it to the list of finalists for the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes. This May, the prize’s board officially announced its line-up of winners and finalists across all categories. As many know, the Pulitzer Prizes are among the most prestigious awards one can win in the fields of journalism, letters, drama, and even music.
Galeno, Dungca, and Morales join a growing list of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who were finalists or winners of the prize. The first homegrown talent who won a Pulitzer was Carlos P. Romulo (in 1942) of the Philippines Herald under the “Correspondence” category. The second is Manny Mogato (in 2018) for his reporting on the country’s drug war with Clare Baldwin and Andrew R.C. Marshall.
Meanwhile, a number of Filipino-Americans that have won the award in the past few decades. These include Byron Acohido, Alex Tizon, and Cheryl Diaz Meyer, reports Momar G. Visaya of Asian Journal.
Below are the works that earned the three Filipina creatives a spot in the finalist list for this year’s Pulitzer prizes:
Nicole Dungca and Ren Galeno: Pulitzer Finalists For Illustrated Reporting And Photography
Dungca and Galeno worked with Claire Healy on The Washington Post’s “Searching for Maura.” The comic piece centers on Filipinos in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Most of them underwent harsh conditions as living “attractions,” with some dying in the process. The Pulitzer Prize’s official long list praises the piece for its “masterful and sensitive use of the comic form to reveal the story of a great injustice to a group of Filipinos […].”
Dungca currently works as a reporter in The Washington Post’s investigative unit. She is a co-host of the investigative podcast Broken Doors, which won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Radio and was a finalist in the Audio Reporting category of the Pulitzer Prizes.
Galeno, who created the art for the piece as a contributor, is a Davao-based artist. She graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a bachelor’s degree in painting. Currently, she works in comics and illustration.
Hannah Reyes Morales: Pulitzer Finalist For Feature Photography
Morales is a finalist for the Feature Photography category in this year’s Pulitzer. She earned the spot through her photographic series for The New York Times on Africa’s “youthquake.” The piece’s main concept is the future of the continent’s new generations. By 2050, it will account for one-quarter of the world’s population and one-third of its young people. The photos capture Africa’s youth across all walks of life. Here, viewers can see them engaged in politics, health, art, religion, agriculture, and the like.
The photographer’s work “focuses on bringing historical memory and current events home, by looking at how they shape daily life,” according to the Pulitzer Prize website. Morales has received a number of accolades throughout her career. These include a Tim Hetherington Visionary Award, ICP Infinity Award for Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism, 2023 Pictures of the Year International Award, and a 2023 World Press Photo Award.
Her works have been featured in various publications, including National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Banner photo from Hannah Reyes Morales’ official website.
