American Family in the spring of 1977, Alex Haley was charged with plagiarism in separate lawsuits by Harold Courlander and Margaret Walker Alexander. Courlander, an anthropologist and novelist, charged that Roots was copied largely from his novel The African (1967). Walker claimed that Haley had plagiarized from her Civil War-era novel Jubilee (1966). Legal proceedings in each case were concluded late in 1978. Courlander's suit was settled out of court for $650,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) and an acknowledgment from Haley that certain passages within Roots were copied from The African. Walker's case was dismissed by the court, which, in comparing the content of Roots with that of Jubilee, found that "no actionable similarities exist between the works." 1981 Feature Writing Prize: Washington Post staff writer Janet Cooke returned the award after an investigation by the newspaper found she fabricated her prize-winning story "Jimmy's World," a profile of an eight-year-old heroin addict in Washington, D.C. 1994 History Prize: Gerald Posner's Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, Lawrence Friedman's Crime and Punishment in American History and Joel Williamson's William Faulkner and Southern History were nominated unanimously for the award; however, no award was given. The decision not to give an award to one of the three books created a public controversy. One of the 19 members of the Pulitzer Board, John Dotson, said that all of the three nominated books were "flawed in some way." But another board member, Edward Seaton, editor of The Manhattan Mercury, disagreed, saying it was "unfortunate" that no award had been given. 2010 Drama Prize: The Tony-winning musical Next to Normal received the award despite not having been among the jury-provided nominees. 2020 Feature Photography Prize: The citation to Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press caused controversy. It was taken by some as questioning "India's legitimacy over Kashmir" as it had used the word "independence" in regard to revocation of Article 370.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/pulitzer-prize-questions-indias-legitimacy-over-kashmir-ld/1824441|title=Pulitzer Prize questions Indias legitimacy over Kashmir (Ld)|date=5 May 2020|magazine=Outlook|access-date=May 6, 2020|via=(IANS)}}</ref> 2020 International Reporting Prize: Russian journalist Roman Badanin, editor-in-chief of independent Russian media outlet Proekt (Project), said that at least two New York Times articles in the entry repeated findings of Proekt's articles published a few months before. Criticism and studies Some critics of the Pulitzer Prize have accused the organization of favoring those who support liberal causes or oppose conservative