Free Press restaurant critic Lyndsay C. Green named Pulitzer finalist for criticism
Detroit Free Press restaurant and dining critic Lyndsay C. Green was named a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for criticism Monday. Green's honest, diverse coverage of dining options across metro Detroit earned her the acclaim.
Book critic Andrea Long Chu of New York Magazine won the award and art critic Jason Farago of the New York Times was also recognized as a finalist.
"It's such an honor to be among all of these other really excellent writers in all of these other categories," Green said.
The honor recognizes Green's key reporting on metro Detroit's dining industry, said Detroit Free Press Interim Editor Anjanette Delgado.
"I am so proud of Lyndsay for her courage," Delgado said. "She brings to light difficult, vitally important issues about our culture and society through dining criticism. We are honored that the Pulitzer Prize board chose to reward her work."
Green has covered major developments in the local dining scene, with a focus on the diverse cuisines offered in the area, including features on a local Salvadoran store and restaurant and the local Muslim community's dining traditions during Ramadan.
"My lens of criticism is going to be a different experience and my experience is that I'm a person of color, I'm dining at places that are led by people of color. I'm among communities of color and so diversity really is just part of my life," Green said.
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Her reporting also exposed inequities in the industry and underrepresentation of Black patrons at new restaurants in the greater downtown area of a majority-Black city.
"There are historic things happening around food in Detroit, and historic problems that desperately need discussing," said Free Press entertainment editor Khalil AlHajal. "Lyndsay went at the task of telling those stories and raising those issues with so much passion and energy that she became an essential voice on Detroit's cultural prominence and economic resurgence.
"I'm so grateful that I got to be there to listen and encourage her as she developed ideas and crafted all those great works of reporting and criticism last year."
Green's previous experience includes founding Beauty Atlas Magazine and reporting for Teen Vogue, Ebony Magazine and Hour Detroit.
The Pulitzer Prize is awarded by an 18-member board at Columbia University annually for various categories. The criticism award was decided by a four-member jury, chaired by Jeneé Osterheldt of the Boston Globe.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Free Press's Lyndsay C. Green named Pulitzer finalist for criticism
