Pulitzer Prize winners announced: Patriot-News honored for reporting on Penn State scandal

The 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners and nominated finalists were announced on Monday. The New York Times won a pair of Pulitzers—for explanatory writing (David Kocieniewski's series on tax loopholes for the wealthy) and international reporting (Jeffrey Gettleman's "vivid reports, often at personal peril, on famine and conflict in East Africa")—while the Associated Press was recognized for an investigative series—by Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley and Eileen Sullivan—outlining the New York Police Department's surveillance of minority and Muslim neighborhoods since the 9/11 terror attacks.

The Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot-News—led by Sara Ganim—was awarded a Pulitzer "for courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky."

In two categories—editorial writing and fiction—no awards were given.

The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News won a Pulitzer for its coverage of 2011's deadly tornado—including the paper's use of "social media as well as traditional reporting to provide real-time updates, help locate missing people and produce in-depth print accounts even after power disruption forced the paper to publish at another plant 50 miles away."

The Onion, the satirical newspaper that launched an elaborate, yearlong campaign to win a Pulitzer Prize, was not among the winners or finalists announced Monday.

The full list of winners:

JOURNALISM

Public Service - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Breaking News Reporting - The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News Staff

Investigative Reporting - Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of the Associated Press and Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times

Explanatory Reporting - David Kocieniewski of The New York Times

Local Reporting - Sara Ganim and members of The Patriot-News Staff, Harrisburg, Penn.

National Reporting - David Wood of The Huffington Post

International Reporting - Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times

Feature Writing - Eli Sanders of The Stranger, a Seattle (Wash.) weekly

Commentary - Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune

Criticism - Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe

Editorial Writing - No award

Editorial Cartooning - Matt Wuerker of Politico

Breaking News Photography - Massoud Hossaini of Agence France-Presse

Feature Photography - Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post

LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC

Fiction - No award

Drama - "Water by the Spoonful" by Quiara Alegría Hudes

History - "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" by the late Manning Marable (Viking)

Biography - "George F. Kennan: An American Life" by John Lewis Gaddis (The Penguin Press)

Poetry - "Life on Mars" by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press)

General Nonfiction - "The Swerve: How the World Became Modern" by Stephen Greenblatt (W.W. Norton and Company)

Music - "Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts" by Kevin Puts (Aperto Press)

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