The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for Philip Kennicott’s criticism of art and the social forces that underlie it, including an examination of the allure of violence and misfortune in an essay after the Newtown school shootings called “Why Do We Stare?”

The fourth award for The Times went to John Branch for his feature “Snow Fall,” on a fatal avalanche in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, which, the Pulitzer committee noted, was “enhanced by its deft integration of multimedia elements” including extensive video, animation and graphics. This is the third highest number of Pulitzer Prizes that The Times has won in a single year. (It won five in 2009 and seven in 2002.)

The Denver Post won in the breaking news category for its coverage of the theater shootings last summer in Aurora, Colo. The Pulitzer committee recognized how The Post’s reporting staff used social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and video to “capture a breaking story and provide context.” A finalist in the same category was the staff of The Hartford Courant for its coverage of the Newtown school massacre.

The Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., received its first Pulitzer, winning in the public service category for its reporting on how off-duty police officers were often speeders who endangered the lives of residents.

The prizes were especially valued in 2012 because so many news organizations were battling their own financial troubles. The Washington Post won one award and was a finalist for four others, even as the company endured a change in executive editors and found its financial situation under scrutiny. In an interview, Mr. Kennicott said that The Post had made sure that he felt that these financial and management changes would not affect his ability to focus on his work.