Washington- Once again major American newspapers “The Washington Post” and “The New York Times” ranked top for each winning an annual Pulitzer Prize award, in light of their journalistic coverage of local and global affairs.
However, the majority of awards presented this year did not go for covering global or civil wars; instead Pulitzers were given for pieces written on humanitarian suits, such as Middle Eastern refugees in Europe, the oppression seeped into the seafood industries, U.S. police officers killing innocents and institutional disregard of mentally incapacitated patients.
Reuters and The New York Times received the Pulitzer dedicated for the category on Breaking News Photography, with moving pictures taken for refugees in Europe and the Middle East.
Monday night, New York, the Pulitzer Prize panel founded in 1917- based on the will of Joseph Pulitzer- celebrated its 100th year of establishment, announcing this year’s winners.
Breaking new, public service topics, and investigatory and general reporting are the usual domains receiving Pulitzers. Non-journalistic pieces, such as books, movies, historical series, drama and music also have their own Pulitzers categories.
Each year, 21 awards are given out; the judging panel elects winners from a score of nominations, which this year mounted up to 2400 pieces encompassing all fields.
Associated Press won a Public Service Prize, for general reports exposing seafood canning industry discrimination and oppression.
The Los Angeles Times Staff won an award for Breaking News Reporting for their exceptional reporting, including both local and global perspectives, on the shooting in San Bernardino and the terror investigation that followed.
Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune won an award for collaborative efforts on Investigative Reporting shedding light on escalating violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals and laid the blame at the door of state officials.
Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York Times and the Photography Staff of Thomson Reuters won awards on Breaking News Photography capturing Middle Eastern refugees.
Reuters had received similar awards over the past years, such as the 2014 International Reporting category for courageous reports on the violent persecution of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar. The 2008 award on Breaking News Photography was given to Adrees Latif of Reuters for his dramatic photograph of a Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar.