Public Service Pulitzer goes to Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK: The Wall Street Journal won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Public Service on Monday for its probe into backdated stock options for business executives, which triggered investigations and dismissals in corporate America.   

The Journal staff also won a Pulitzer for international reporting for its coverage of capitalism in China.   

The 91st annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced at Columbia University in New York.   

The staff of the Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, won the Pulitzer for breaking news for its coverage of a family missing in the mountains. And Brett Blackledge of the Birmingham News in Alabama won the prize for investigative reporting for his exposure of corruption and cronyism in the state''s two-year college system, the Pulitzer board said.   

At The New York Times, Andrea Elliott won the Pulitzer for feature writing for her portrait of an immigrant imam.   

At the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling and Rick Loomis won the Pulitzer for explanatory reporting for their reports on distressed oceans.   

The Pulitzer for local reporting went to Debbie Cenziper of the Miami Herald for her articles on waste and favoritism at a local housing agency.   

The Pulitzer for national reporting went to Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe for his coverage of President George W. Bush's use of "signing statements" to assert his right to bypass provisions of new laws.   

The Pulitzer for commentary went to Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the prize for criticism went to Jonathan Gold of the LA Weekly for his restaurant reviews.   

The Pulitzer for editorial writing went to New York's Daily News for its "compassionate and compelling" editorials on behalf of Ground Zero workers with health problems and the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning went to Walt Handelsman of Newsday, of Long Island, New York.   

The Pulitzer for breaking news photography went to Oded Balilty of the Associated Press while the prize for feature photography went to Renee Byer of the Sacramento Bee in California.   

The fiction prize went to "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy" the drama award went to "Rabbit Hole" by David Lindsay-Abaire and the history prize went to "The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation" by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff.   

The Pulitzer for biography went to "The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher" by Debby Applegate. The prize for poetry went to "Native Guard" by Natasha Trethewey and general non-fiction award went to "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 911" by Lawrence Wright.   

The Pulizer for music went to "Sound Grammar" by Ornette Coleman. A special posthumous citation went to John Coltrane for his "masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz" and a special citation went to Ray Bradbury for his "distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy," the board said.