NY Papers Win Most Pulitzers

Stories about an imam in America and a missing family in Oregon topped the list of notable works of journalism this year.

Winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the highest award in American journalism, were announced yesterday at 3 p.m. at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. The winners are decided by a board of distinguished figures in journalism and at the University.

New York City-based newspapers were the big winners this year: Andrea Elliott of the New York Times won Best Feature Story for a story on an imam's struggles to remain devout and serve his faithful in a secular country. The New York Daily News was awarded the Editorial Writing prize for a series of editorials calling on the city and country to address the health issues of Ground Zero workers.

The Wall Street Journal was the only paper to receive multiple awards. It garnered the Public Service prize for its investigation on back-dated stock options, and the International Reporting prize for reporting on the negative affects of China's booming economy.

Kenneth R. Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling and Rick Loomis of the Los Angeles Times won Best Explanatory Reporting for a series on the world's oceans, and the Oregonian was honored with the Breaking News Reporting prize for its stories on a family lost in the wilderness.

In the prizes for letters and drama, The Road by Cormac McCarthy won best fiction work and the The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright was awarded best work of nonfiction.