The Washington Post wins two Pulitzer Prizes

After the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service was awarded to The Washington Post, contributor Barton Gellman describes the effort that went into a series of stories on the government’s massive surveillance program.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

NSA coverage receives award for public service, and six-part series on food stamps is honored for explanatory journalism.

The Post is also named a finalist in breaking news coverage and feature photography.

Today The Washington Post was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes, one for public service and another for explanatory journalism. The Pulitzer for Public Service was given to The Post’s sweeping coverage of the National Security Agency and intelligence community—more than six months of definitive, groundbreaking reporting led by Barton Gellman based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Eli Saslow received the Pulitzer for Explanatory Journalism for his ability to transform the complicated subject of the United States’ $78 billion food stamp program in a post-recession America into understandable and deeply affecting stories.

Honored as a co-recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, The Post’s coverage of NSA shattered the secrecy of a clandestine government program called PRISM, exposed the NSA’s repeated violations of its own privacy rules and more, bringing to light a discussion about the sometimes uneasy balance between individual privacy and national security. A list of contributors to The Post’s coverage is available below. For an inside look at how the coverage came together, The Post will host a “Behind the Headlines” panel discussion on Wednesday, April 23.

Saslow’s explanatory reporting on food stamps spanned six stories. The first begins with a look at Woonsocket, R.I., where one-third of the residents receive food stamps, detailing the astonishing transformation of a despairing town on the day each month when those food stamps arrive. Saslow’s subsequent stories focused on hungry senior citizens in Florida, needy children in rural Tennessee, a Florida Congressman’s push for an historic overhaul of the food stamp program, the effects of a government feeding program in Hidalgo County, TX, and finally, a 41-year-old mother of six in Washington, D.C., who has been on food stamps her entire life.

The Post was also named a finalist in breaking news for its coverage of the shootings at Washington Navy Yard and in feature photography for Michael Williamson’s revealing photographs that defy food-stamp stereotypes. See all of The Post’s winning coverage.

Since 1936, The Washington Post has won 60 Pulitzer Prizes.

Contributors to The Post’s NSA Coverage (in alphabetical order): Masuma Ahuja, Wilson Andrews, Cameron Barr, Scott Clement, David Cho, Peyton Craighill, Alice Crites, Matt DeLong, Kat Downs, Kennedy Elliott, Peter Finn, Marc Fisher, Bart Gellman, Sari Horwitz, Rich Johnson, Cecilia Kang, Anne Kornblut, Jeff Leen, Thomas LeGro, Carol Leonnig, Todd Lindeman, Osman Malik, Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, Robert O’Harrow, Jr., Laura Poitras, Steven Rich, Greg Schneider, Ashkan Soltani, Julie Tate, Craig Timberg, Jason Ukman, Peter Wallsten