The use of comics for reporting (dubbed graphic journalism) has a long tradition and in recent years it has produced amazing works of art exploring our world and chronicling events with an intimate and personal focus missing from mainstream journalism. The Pulitzer Prize has recognized one of those projects, How I escaped a Chinese internment camp, as the 2022 winner for “Illustrated Reporting”. The award has been given since 1922 and only two “comic strips” have been recognized in those years.

The comic follows Zumrat Dawut, a mother of three from Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang autonomous region in China. In 2018 she was arrested and sent to a detention center for Uyghur women where she experience “brutal living conditions” and beatings.

The comic features Zumrat’s story told to Insider through interviews as well as testimony given to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Pulitzer was given for:

For using graphic reportage and the comics medium to tell a powerful yet intimate story of the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs, making the issue accessible to a wider public.

Recognized are Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams, and Walt Hickey.