University of Chicago alumni Dake Kang, AB’16, Caroline Kubzansky, AB’21, and Raphael Satter, AB’05, have won 2026 Pulitzer Prizes for international, local and national reporting, respectively. The prizes were announced May 4.
Kang, a journalist with The Associated Press in Beijing, was part of the global team awarded an international reporting prize for their “astonishing global investigation” into state-of-the-art tools of mass surveillance—created largely by American companies—used by the Chinese government.
In his reporting, Kang helped uncover that the U.S. government allowed, and even helped, Silicon Valley tech companies sell advanced tech to China, where it has been honed into a vast, powerful surveillance network used to stifle dissent, monitor citizens and target political refugees.
“It’s a real honor, but more importantly, I hope this helps draw more attention to our reporting and the stories of the people we spoke to,” Kang said. “I will never forget what we had witnessed in Xinjiang and elsewhere. In this chaotic age of distraction we are living through, I am grateful that the importance of the issues we documented are being acknowledged.”
A history and math major at UChicago, Kang wrote his award-winning thesis on Beijing’s first subway. He is an Institute of Politics alum and 2023 Pritzker Fellow, where he led seminars on China’s response to COVID-19 (coverage that was named a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting).
“[At UChicago] I met friends and mentors who transformed the way I saw the world and gave me the courage to choose a career that was true to myself,” he said. “For that, I am deeply grateful.”
Kubzansky, as a member of the Chicago Tribune staff, was awarded a Local Reporting Prize for “powerful coverage” of “the Trump administration’s militarized immigration sweep of the city.”
In September 2025, the Department of Homeland Security dispatched Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to Chicago in a months-long targeted immigration raid. Dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz,” federal agents detained over 1,500 people, deported hundreds and fatally shot one man across the Chicagoland area. The presence of federal agents sparked a swell of resistance by Chicagoans in the form of protests and community action.
In the Tribune's months-long coverage, Kubzansky contributed reporting on the ICE shooting of an activist in Brighton Park and a capstone piece documenting the 64-day period of the blitz.
“The Pulitzer announcement brought me back to that period where that daily urgency, and sharing that experience with my colleagues, was the defining feature of my life,” Kubzansky said. “It reminded me of what it felt like to stand on a city street and watch tear gas clouds clear as people up and down the sidewalk washed their eyes out and helped others near them get back on their feet.”
At the Tribune, Kubzansky covers criminal justice with a focus on violence and its root causes. While at UChicago, the philosophy and English major was a student journalist for the Chicago Maroon from her first week on campus until graduation, serving as the managing editor from 2020-21.
Kubzansky says her time at UChicago gave her “ideas about power, state authority, the meaning of politics and love,” that she thought about during the blitz, but also foundational tenets she uses every day as a reporter.
“Ask for help if you need it—most problems are less intimidating when discussed with someone you trust. Be rigorous in your examination. Ask the intimidating questions,” she said. “Consider the history of the thing before you and ask: How does this fit into what came before it, or stand it on its head?”
Satter, an investigative reporter at Reuters, was part of the winning team that received the National Reporting Prize for “documenting how the president used the U.S. government and the influence of his supporters to expand executive power and exact vengeance on his foes.”
As part of the winning series, Satter contributed reporting on the “purge” after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The story outlined the government-backed retaliatory campaign that led to the firings, suspensions and investigations of more than 600 people across the U.S. who made comments on the right-wing influencer’s death.
At Reuters, Satter covers cybersecurity, surveillance and disinformation. He has written extensively on state-sponsored espionage and Russian hacking operations. While at UChicago, Satter also wrote for the Maroon and graduated with a degree in political science.
Kang, Kubzansky and Satter join a distinguished list of UChicago scholars and alumni who have won Pulitzer Prizes. Recent honorees include investigative journalist Trina Reynolds-Tyler, MPP’20; author Brent Staples, AM’76, PhD’82; playwright Martyna Majok, AB’07; and poet Tyehimba Jess, AB’91.
