Esquire magazine won the first Pulitzer Prize of its 92-year history Monday for its work in documenting the life and death of an Alabama mayor.

“A Death in Alabama,” by Mark Warren, was published in the magazine’s April/May 2024 edition.

Warren retold the story of Smith Station mayor Bubba Copeland, who died by suicide Nov. 3, 2023.

The prize committee honored the piece for a “sensitive portrait of a Baptist pastor and small town mayor who died by suicide after his secret digital life was exposed by a right-wing news site.”

Copeland, a 49-year-old married father of three, died two days after 1819 News, a right-wing website once owned by Alabama Policy Institute, published photos of him wearing women’s clothing and makeup.

On the day of his death, the same site published a story accusing him of using the names and photos of local residents, including a minor, without permission in posts, including the real name of a local businesswoman in a fictional story about a man who develops a deadly obsession with taking over her identity.

Warren, an author and a former longtime editor at Esquire, interviewed friends, family, townspeople and fellow congregants of Copeland’s church to reconstruct his final days. The story also dealt with the aftermath of Copeland’s death and the responses of the community.

An examination into the electronic devices belonging to Copelandfollowing his suicide turned up no criminal wrongdoing, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said in 2023.

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