April 08, 2008
THE Washington Post won six Pulitzer Prizes today, including the prestigious Public Service award for its reporting on conditions of US war veterans at America's flagship military hospital.
The Pulitzer Prize board said the Post won for "exposing the mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials."
"It's the greatest honour,'' said Anne Hull, whose work with her colleagues Dana Priest and Michel du Cille won the Public Service prize for the newspaper, part of the Washington Post Co media group.
"We just couldn't let up if we wanted because the first story triggered an avalanche of outcry from wounded soldiers and their spouses and family and it was really them riding us that kept us following the story," she said.
The 92nd annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced at Columbia University in New York City.
The Public Service winner receives a gold medal, and winners in the remaining 20 categories receive $US10,000 ($A10,800).
The Washington Post also won breaking news reporting for its coverage of the deadly Virginia Tech college shooting rampage and national reporting for an exploration of US Vice President Dick Cheney's influence on national policy.
The newspaper won for international reporting for a series on private security contractors in Iraq operating outside most of the laws governing US forces, feature writing for a story on a world-class violinist who played in a subway station as an experiment and commentary for columns exploring America's "complex economic ills with masterful clarity."
Reuters news agency won its first Pulitzer Prize, taking the breaking news photography category for a picture of a Japanese videographer killed during a demonstration in Burma. The picture was taken by photographer Adrees Latif.
On assignment in Nepal to cover elections, Latif said he was happy to win the prize for Reuters, but also wanted to take a moment to remember Kenji Nagai, the fellow journalist whose picture he took in his final moments of life.
The New York Times won in the explanatory reporting category for examining dilemmas and ethical issues that accompany DNA testing and in investigative reporting for stories on toxic ingredients in medicine and other products imported from China.
The Chicago Tribune also won for investigative reporting for its exposure of faulty government regulation of toys, car seats and cribs.
No award was given in the category of editorial writing.
Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was given a special citation for his ``profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power''.
- Reuters