The Pulitzer came about as part of an attempt by newspaper Joseph Pulitzer to upgrade the profession of journalism. Pulitzer, the owner of the New York World and the St. Louis Post-Dispatah, made a proposal in 1903 to Columbia University to make $2 million bequest to the university for the dual purposes of establishing a school of journalism at the university and also establishing prizes for exceptional work in journalism and other fields. However, the university did not initially respond as one might expect to such a seemingly generous offer. Interestingly, Columbia University did not immediately agree to the proposal by Pulitzer in as much as journalism was not held in high regard in general and the Pulitzer papers were more known for their sensationalization of the news than for the high quality of journalism. The trustees of the university were not at all sure that they wanted a school of journalism because news paper reporting was considered more of a trade than a profession at the time and they did not to decrease the academic prestige of their institution. It took year of discussions and negotiations before the terms for the establishment of the school of journalism and the prizes bearing Pulitzer’s name were agreed upon, and it was not actualy until the year after Pulitzer’s death in 1911 that construction began on the building to house Columbia’s news school of journalism. The school of journalism opened in 1913. And the first prizes were awarded in 1917, for work done the previous year. The method for selecting Pulitzer Prize winners and the categories for prize has changed slightly over the years. Today, 21 different awards are given in three differents areas, with the majority of award going to journalists; 14 of the 221 awards are from various aspects of journalism (i.e. news reporting, feature writing, cartoons, and photography), 6 awards are given in letters (in fiction, non fiction, history, drama, poetry and bioghraphy) , and 1 award in music. Columbia University appoints nominating juries consisting of experts in each field, and the nominating juries submit these