NEW YORK — The Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting Monday for documenting the New York Police Department’s widespread spying on Muslims, while the turmoil-ridden Philadelphia Inquirer was honored in the public service category for its examination of violence in the city’s schools.
The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. and in particular, 24-year-old reporter Sara Ganim were honored for local reporting for breaking the Penn State sexual-abuse scandal that ultimately brought down football coach Joe Paterno.
Another Pulitzer for investigative reporting was awarded to the Seattle Times for a series about accidental methadone overdoses among patients with chronic pain.
David Wood of the Internet-based Huffington Post won for national reporting for a look at the suffering endured by American veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is only the second Pulitzer ever awarded for reporting that appeared online only.
Politico’s Matt Wuerker won the editorial cartooning prize for work that poked fun at partisan fighting in Washington.
The New York Times received two prizes: David Kocieniewski was honored in the explanatory reporting category for a series on how wealthy people and corporations use loopholes to avoid taxes. And Jeffrey Gettleman won for international reporting for his coverage of famine and conflict in East Africa.
At the Patriot-News, Ms. Ganim, a young police and courts reporter, won for “courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal,” the Pulitzer judges wrote.
The scandal ended the legendary football coach’s illustrious career, prompted the ouster of Penn State President Graham Spanier and led to a nationwide discussion over the place and power of big-time sports on college campuses.
The Stranger, a Seattle weekly, won the feature writing award for a story about a woman who survived an attack that killed her partner.
In photography, Massoud Hossaini of Agence France-Presse won the breaking news award for his picture of a girl weeping after a suicide bomber attacked a crowded shrine in Afghanistan.
Craig F. Walker of the Denver Post won the feature photography award his second in three years for his work on an Iraq war veteran’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.
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