Pulitzer Center Update November 28, 2025

Tracing Our Footsteps of Impact Into Year 20

Author:

Lucille Crelli
Pulitzer Center Staff

As the Pulitzer Center Evolves, So Does Our Brand

As recalled in an essay written by Founder Jon Sawyer, the Pulitzer Center began 20 years ago with a donated desk in a borrowed office. Created with the then-radical idea of collaborative, cross-border journalism that would diversify the news landscape, it’s been a whirlwind two decades of bringing critical issues to audiences across the globe. Our third decade will be no exception.

As we celebrate 20 years of the Center's impact, we are clarifying and strengthening how we tell our story.

Our logo—which has not changed over the years—was designed by Sawyer’s son-in-law, Dan McCarey, within the first few years of the organization. I did not arrive at the Pulitzer Center until 2019. As the Center’s design manager, it is my responsibility to maintain and expand upon our established brand recognition. With the launch of our new mission in 2023, the opportunity came to also innovate the visual language of the organization. How can we visualize this new era of the Pulitzer Center in a way that imbues modernity and excitement? I turned to our existing logo and brand identity for how to move forward.

Inspired by the negative space in the icon, I envisioned how the interlocking shapes act as a “chain,” highlighting both our role linking journalists with the public and the interconnectivity of our model.

Drawing out the positive space, the chain extends to add more links to form a “trail of footprints”—representing our ongoing journey of implementing our model and creating impact.

Lastly, as a nod to the vast breadth and depth of our work, each “step” in the trail is color-coded to match one of our five focus areas—Climate and Environment, Global Health, Human Rights, Information and Artificial Intelligence, and Peace and Conflict—to visually simplify the complexity of our model for our audience. Packaged together, we can tell the Pulitzer Center story in a more nuanced way.

These footsteps trail across all aspects of our work—from the journalism itself to our public forums, art exhibits, classroom visits, and more. As we embark upon our 20th year, we will launch a redesigned weekly newsletter next Friday that embodies these journalistic ideals and builds upon the Pulitzer Center brand. It is our hope that your footsteps will join ours as we ensure that independent journalism continues to thrive.

Best,

Impact

The Pulitzer Center–supported project Death Flights, for Mongabay Latam, won the Global Shining Light Award for its investigation into illegal airstrips operating in the Amazon rainforest. The award was presented at the Global Investigative Journalism Network’s conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week.

Working in partnership with Earth Genome, Mongabay Latam identified a network of 67 drug-trafficking airstrips across the Peruvian regions of Ucayali, Huánuco, and Pasco. Using artificial intelligence and satellite imagery, cross-referenced with official records and on-the-ground reporting, the team confirmed each airstrip’s connection to narco activity. The investigation revealed that many of these airstrips are located in or near Indigenous communities and documented the violence associated with them, including targeted attacks and assassinations of Indigenous leaders.

Learn more about the Pulitzer Center's participation at GIJC25.