2011 Pulitzer Prizes Awarded, Online Only Story Wins for First Time

A prestigious Pulitzer Prize was awarded for the first time Monday to a story that never was published in print.

Two reporters from the non-profit online media outlet, ProPublica, won in the national reporting category for their coverage of questionable Wall Street practices that contributed to the U.S. economic crisis.

Pulitzer Prizes are awarded each year in 14 journalism and seven arts categories by New York's Columbia University. Each winner receives $10,000.

Last year, the rules were changed to allow entries using "any available journalistic tool," including text, videos, multimedia or interactive presentations. In the past, the awards were limited to text pieces.

This year, The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times newspapers each each won two of the awards.

The Los Angeles Times won the coveted public service award for exposing local city officials in California who were paying themselves exorbitant salaries. It also won for feature photography.

The New York Times won in the international reporting category for putting a face on the "faltering justice system" in Russia. The newspaper also won for its economic commentary.

For the first time in the award's 95-year history, there was no winner in the breaking news category. And The Washington Post's Carol Guzy, won the breaking news photography award along with two colleagues, making her the first journalist to have received four Pulitzers.

In the arts, the prize for fiction went to Jennifer Egan for her novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, and to Bruce Norris, who won the drama award for his play Clybourne Park.

Kay Ryan won the poetry category for The Best of It: New and Selected Poems. In music, Zhou Long won for Madame White Snake, premiered in February by the Opera Boston.

Awards were also given for history, biography and general nonfiction.