Whoa! A Former Bravo Star Just Won a Pulitzer Prize

This Bravoleb was among the 2018 Pulitzer Prize honorees.

By Laura Rosenfeld Apr 18, 2018, 3:54 PM ET

Judge Jerry Saltz

The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday, April 16, and there was one name among the winners who will be particularly familiar to Bravo fans. And no, we're not talking about Kendrick Lamar (he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, in case you didn't know).

Jerry Saltz, senior art critic for New York Magazine, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in this year's list of honors. Bravo fans will remember Saltz from the competition series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, on which he served as a judge for two seasons, along with New York gallery owner and literary art contributor Bill Powers and China Chow, who also hosted the series.

Jerry Saltz on Work of Art.

Saltz showed his gratitude for being honored with the Pulitzer Prize in a note on Instagram posted on Wednesday, in which he also thanked his wife, wife, Roberta Smith, the co-chief art critic for The New York Times, his New York Magazine editor David Wallace-Wells, and all of those who work in the art world, as well as those who just appreciate it. "I think my skin is still flickering like an octopus. All of your Pulitzer well-wishes mean as much to me as the Prize itself," Saltz wrote in the post on Instagram. "Thank you all for changing my life; for making it possible at all."

I think my skin is still flickering like an octopus.â«ï¸â«ï¸ All of your Pulitzer well-wishes mean as much to me as the Prize itself.â«ï¸â«ï¸â«ï¸ Thank you all for changing my life; for making it possible at all. â«ï¸â«ï¸â«ï¸ Thank you to my wife, New York Times Co-Chief Art-Critic Roberta Smith, who showed me what criticism is - and who I believe is the best weekly art critic alive and among the greatest who ever lived. She's the real critic in the family. And in our whole art-world family. ðµðµðµ Thank you to my blazingly perceptive editor Davis Wallace-Wells - whose own NYM cover story on climate-change took the inquiry to another level. I often think "If he leaves NYM I'll have to leave too."â«ï¸â«ï¸â«ï¸ Finally, thank you to the art world, to artists, gallerists, curators, critics, collectors, art-lovers, hangers-on, fallen heroes, the shimmering brilliances and modern shamans whose "ascending wings" have allowed me to write at all.â«ï¸â«ï¸â«ï¸ Now it's time to get back to work.â«ï¸ Criticism never sleeps.â«ï¸ Art first; all else follows.â«ï¸ ððððð @robertasmithnyt @NYMag @Vulture
A post shared by Jerry Saltz (@jerrysaltz) on Apr 18, 2018 at 5:58am PDT

Powers sent a big mazel Saltz's way on Instagram Monday — and he also gave a shout-out to their time on Bravo in the process.

Congrats on your 2018 Pulitzer Prize, Jerry! (Itâs a long way from Bravo ðº) @jerrysaltz
A post shared by Bill Powers (@halfgallery) on Apr 16, 2018 at 1:11pm PDT