The New York Times received five Pulitzer Prizes today, including one for breaking the call-girl scandal that destroyed Gov. Eliot Spitzer's career. The Las Vegas Sun won for public service for exposing a high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip. America's top journalism awards were announced after one of the most depressing years the newspaper industry has ever seen.
The Detroit Free Press won in the local reporting category for obtaining a trove of sexually explicit text messages that brought down the city's mayor. The East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz., won for revealing a sheriff's obsession with immigration enforcement. No Pulitzers were awarded for coverage of the biggest financial crisis since the Depression, and, despite a new rule allowing online-only news sites to compete, none won any prizes. (More Pulitzer Prize stories.)