This year’s J. Anthony Lukas Project awards have recognised books exploring homelessness, the US Census and ancient India. The prizes, administered by the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, were announced on March 17.
Jeff Hobbs’ ‘Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America’ received the Lukas Book Prize. The $10,000 award honours works that exemplify literary grace, rigorous research and social concern.
William Dalrymple’s ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ was awarded the $10,000 Mark Lynton Prize for history, which similarly recognises literary excellence combined with deep research and engagement with social issues.
The Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards, each worth $25,000, went to danah boyd for ‘Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the U.S. Census’ and Karim Zidan for ‘In the Shadow of the Cage’.
Established in 1998, the Lukas prizes have previously recognised notable writers including Robert Caro, Isabel Wilkerson and Jill Lepore, highlighting works that merge investigative depth with literary quality.
