In 1921, Anne O’Hare McCormick had little journalism experience when she wrote to Carr V. Van Anda, the managing editor at The New York Times. It might have been a long shot, but she asked if she could submit articles to the newspaper when she went to Europe with her husband.

At the time, there were few women working as reporters, even fewer working as international correspondents. Most women wrote for the society pages. But the editor would be under no obligation to print her articles, and would have to pay her only if they were accepted.

“Try it,” he responded.

She would go on to overcome a mountain of obstacles for female reporters, earning worldwide respect and becoming the first woman to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize in one of its major journalism categories in 1937. It would be 14 years until the next woman would win.

That is a striking contrast to the annual awards handed down this week, which included recognition of The Times’s coverage of sexual harassment in Hollywood, media and other fields, an effort reported and edited mostly by women. (Women now have 39 percent of the bylines in The Times, just above the industry average of 38.1 percent, according to the Women’s Media Center.)