NEW YORK - THE New York Times dominated the Pulitzer Prizes announced on Monday, winning five of the coveted awards for investigative, breaking news and international reporting, feature photography and criticism.
The Las Vegas Sun won the most prestigious Public Service Prize for reporting on the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas strip, according to the board of the Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music.
PICTURES OF OBAMA CAMPAIGN
THE feature photography prize went to the Times' Damon Winter for pictures of Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the criticism prize went to Times' art critic Holland Cotter.
The record number of Pulitzers won in any year was the Times, which won seven in 2002.
The strength of the prize winners' work shows the power and significance of print journalism, said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzers.
Newspapers are suffering badly in the recession, with massive job losses, elimination of sections and cancellation of home delivery. A few have ceased publication, slashed salaries and filed for bankruptcy.
'The watchdog still barks. The watchdog still bites,' Mr Gissler said. 'Who would be doing this day to day if we didn't have newspapers?' None of the prizes went to journalism covering the economy or the global financial crisis.
This marked the first year that entries from news organisations that publish entirely on the Internet could compete in the journalism categories.
Despite the growth of online journalism, there were no online winners, and only Politico.com, a largely online outlet, was a finalist in editorial cartooning, said Gissler. The editorial cartooning prize went to Steve Breen of The San Diego Union Tribune.
The New York Times staff won the breaking news reporting award for coverage of a sex scandal that led to the resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and international reporting for coverage of US involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan under dangerous conditions.
The Times won for investigative reporting by David Barstow on retired US generals who were working as media analysts and co-opted by the Pentagon to defend the US-led war in Iraq. -- REUTERS
