The Seattle Times won a Pulitzer Prize today from Columbia University for its coverage of the shooting deaths of four Seattle-area police officers and the 40-hour manhunt for the suspect. Two crime stories were the finalists in the same breaking-news category for which the Seattle Times won: the Newark Star-Ledger was a finalist for its covering of 44 arrests in a corruption scandal that involved local officials, several religious leaders, and others; and the Washington Post for its “compelling coverage” of the Army psychiatrist, with long ties to Washington, who killed 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas.
In the investigative reporting category, Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News won a Pulitzer for “resourceful reporting” that exposed a rogue police narcotics squad, resulting in an FBI probe and the review of hundreds of criminal cases tainted by the scandal.