From a story on poynter.org by Roy Peter Clark headlined “The Best Pulitzer Lead (or Lede) of 2023 is…

For most of a decade now, I have read Pulitzer Prize-winning stories with special attention to the leads – or ledes, if you prefer. Great stories can begin with average leads, of course. And what looks like a great lead can lead us nowhere.

Cheers to this year’s Pulitzer winners. I honor you all as champions of truth telling and democracy. Out of all your great work, it is my self-appointed job to select the best lead, and to make a case for it. The prize is bragging rights.