Pulitzers: Post bags 4,NYT gets 3

When the Pulitzer board handed out the most important prizes in journalism,The New York Times and The Washington Post topped the list of winners and finalists as usual.

When the Pulitzer board handed out the most important prizes in journalism,The New York Times and The Washington Post topped the list of winners and finalists as usual. But they were joined for the first time by new media publications that scored unprecedented recognition.

On Monday,judges awarded the nonprofit ProPublica,in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine,a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for a 13,000-word story on the life-and-death decisions made by New Orleans doctors during Hurricane Katrina.

It is a validation, said Stephen Engelberg,managing editor for the more than two-year-old ProPublica. To be recognised by your peers is an honour.Also representing a new model was the prize for editorial cartooning,which was won by the self-syndicated Mark Fiore. His work appears on the San Francisco Chronicle Web site SFGate.com.

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The Pulitzers are regarded as the most prestigious awards in US journalism and are given out annually by Columbia University. Each Pulitzer carries a $10,000 prize,except for the public service award,which is a gold medal.

The Bristol Herald Courier beat out journalisms powerhouses to win the Pulitzer Prize for public service for uncovering a scandal in which Virginia landowners were deprived of millions in natural gas royalties. The Washington Post received four Pulitzers for international reporting on Iraq,feature writing,commentary and criticism. The New York Times won three for national reporting,for explanatory reporting and for investigative reporting.

A prize for investigative reporting also went to the Philadelphia Daily News for exposing a rogue police narcotics squad.