The New York Times won three prestigious Pulitzer Prizes Monday while a South Carolina newspaper, The Post and Courier, won the Pulitzer for public service for its series on domestic violence against women.
The Post and Courier stories explored the deaths of 300 women over the past decade, with judges calling it "a riveting series that probed why South Carolina is among the deadliest states in the union for women."
The New York Times won its awards for investigating reporting on the influence of lobbyists, and for international reporting and feature photography that told the story of the devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Los Angeles Times won two of the prizes, for feature writing on the effects of California's drought and for television criticism.
Two other prestigious U.S. newspapers, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post each won a prize. The Wall Street Journal won for reporting previously confidential information on the Medicare payment system. The Post took the award for national reporting for covering security lapses that led to an overhaul of the Secret Service.
One of the biggest U.S. stories of the year -- the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the resulting racial unrest -- was covered by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and earned the newspaper a Pulitzer for breaking news photography.
The Seattle Times staff took the breaking news award for its coverage of a deadly landslide in Washington state.
Bloomberg News was a first-time winner, earning the explanatory reporting award for an examination of how U.S. corporations dodge taxes.
The prize for local reporting went to journalists at the Daily Breeze of Torrance, California for their look at corruption in a school district.
Besides the journalism categories, Pulitzer prizes also were awarded in literature, history, drama and music. The fiction prize was won by Anthony Doerr for his novel "All the Light We Cannot See," while the biography award went to David Kertzer for his book "The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe."
The annual prizes, begun in 1917, are named for publisher Joseph Pulitzer and are administered by Columbia University in New York City. In 20 of the categories, each winner receives $10,000. The winner for public service in journalism is awarded a gold medal.
List of 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners
Journalism
Public Service: The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina
Breaking News Reporting: The Seattle Times staff
Investigative Reporting: Eric Lipton of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal staff
Explanatory Reporting: Zachary R. Mider of Bloomberg News
Local Reporting: Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze of Torrance, California
National Reporting: Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post
International Reporting: The New York Times staff
Feature Writing: Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times
Commentary: Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle
Criticism: Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing: Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe
Editorial Cartooning: Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News
Breaking News Photography: St. Louis Post-Dispatch photography staff
Feature Photography: Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times
Books, Drama and Music
Fiction: "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Drama: "Between Riverside and Crazy" by Stephen Adly Guirgis
History: "Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People" by Elizabeth A. Fenn
Biography: "The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe" by David I. Kertzer
Poetry: "Digest" by Gregory Pardlo
General Nonfiction: "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert
Music: "Anthracite Fields" by Julia Wolfe