Lacy C. Haynes Professor Patricia Weems Gaston served as Pulitzer Prize juror for second straight year

Lacy C. Haynes Professor Patricia (Weems) Gaston served as a 2025 Pulitzer Prize juror. She previously served as a 2024 juror. The Pulitzer Prize is regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition.

Gaston was part of the International Reporting Jury that met at Columbia University in late February. The jury made three nominations and sent them to the Pulitzer Board, which selects the winner. The winners and nominated finalists were announced on May 5.

Gaston was co-editor of the Dallas Morning News' 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning series that looked at the universality of violence against women. The 1981 Journalism School graduate returned to the University of Kansas in 2018 to teach after a long, stellar career at The Washington Post, where she was an editor who worked on several desks, including National, Foreign and Editorial.