Ron Cortes

1997 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism

Ron Cortes received the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for explanatory journalism as a photojournalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was awarded the prize for his photography in a series on the choices that confronted critically ill patients who sought to die with dignity.

Cortes is a native Texan, born in San Antonio, and a University of Texas graduate. He received a degree in mathematics in 1966 and taught for 10 years in Texas, California and Tehran, Iran. He returned to UT in 1978 to do postgraduate work in photojournalism

Cortes began his photojournalism career in 1981 at the News Journal in Wilmington, Del. In 1987 he joined the Philadelphia Inquirer staff.

He has covered stories in Cuba, Bosnia, Ethiopia and Haiti.

Source: Pulitzer Prize website sponsored by the Columbia Journalism Review.