'Post and Courier,' 'N.Y. Times,' Bloomberg News win Pulitzers

Roger Yu | USA TODAY





The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., won the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for its series on violence against women in the state, as The New York Times won three awards and Bloomberg News won its first Pulitzer.

Bloomberg News' Pulitzer for excellence in explanatory reporting, awarded to reporter Zachary Mider, was a result of "a painstaking, clear and entertaining explanation of how so many U.S. corporations dodge taxes and why lawmakers and regulators have a hard time stopping them," the Pulitzer board said.

The New York Times' Eric Lipton and the Wall Street Journal staff won Pulitzers for investigative reporting.

The Journal's "Medicare Unmasked" project "gave Americans unprecedented access to previously confidential data on the motivations and practices of their health care providers," the board said.

Lipton won for his "reporting that showed how the influence of lobbyists can sway congressional leaders and state attorneys general, slanting justice toward the wealthy and connected," it said.

The New York Times also won for international reporting and feature photography.

The Los Angeles Times is the only other multiple award winner, nabbing Pulitzers for feature writing and criticism.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, a best seller about a blind French girl and a German boy during World War II, won for fiction (book). The book is currently No. 6 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list.

Despite financial cutbacks and challenges to their business models, several local newspapers were recognized for their excellence in breaking news coverage.

The Seattle Times' staff won for breaking news reporting with "its digital account of a landslide that killed 43 people and the impressive follow-up reporting that explored whether the calamity could have been avoided."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch won for breaking news photography with its "powerful images of the despair and anger in Ferguson, Mo." and "stunning photojournalism that served the community while informing the country," the board said.

The Daily Breeze, based in Torrance, Calif., won for local reporting with its coverage of widespread corruption in "a small, cash-strapped school district, including impressive use of the paper's website."

Despite its army of 2,400 journalists, Bloomberg News has never won a Pulitzer in its 25-year history even as it expanded aggressively into investigative journalism and enterprise features. The newsroom's desire to win a Pulitzer to validate its status as one of the most influential news organizations was hardly a secret in the journalism business.

"We are grateful to be recognized by our peers for reporting that repeatedly broke news on an immensely complex topic," said Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg's editor in chief emeritus. "Zachʼs reporting introduced a new term to the American political lexicon and compelled policymakers to tackle this formerly obscure threat to the U.S. tax base."

The Pulitzer Prize, administered by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, is awarded in 21 categories of journalism, letters, drama and music. Winners in 20 of the categories receive $10,000.

Here's a complete list of winners.

JOURNALISM

Public service — The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC

Breaking news reporting — Seattle Times staff

Investigative reporting — Two prizes: Eric Lipton of The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal staff

Explanatory reporting — Zachary Mider of Bloomberg News

Local reporting — Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze, Torrance, Calif.

National reporting — Carol Leonnig of The Washington Post

International reporting — The New York Times staff

Feature writing — Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times

Commentary — Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle

Criticism — Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial writing — Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe

Editorial cartooning — Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News

Breaking news photography — St. Louis Post-Disptach photography staff

Feature photography — Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times

BOOKS, DRAMA AND MUSIC

Fiction -— All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)

Drama — Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis

History — Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth Fenn (Hill and Wang)

Biography — The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David Kertzer (Random House)

Poetry — Digest by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books)

General non-fiction — The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt)

Music — Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe (G. Schirmer, Inc.)