The list of Pulitzer Prize winners in 2006 includes the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which received two awards, for public service and breaking news coverage. The paper shared the public service prize with The Sun Herald of Gulfport, Miss.
Forced to abandon most of its offices, The Times-Picayune was published online in the days after Hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29, providing updates for concerned residents and evacuees.
The Pulitzer for National Reporting was split between the staffs of The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service and New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau. Risen and Lichtblau broke the story last December that the National Security Agency has been conducting secret surveillance of American citizens.
The prizes were announced Monday afternoon at Columbia University in New York.
Other winners include style columnist Robin Givhan of The Washington Post, in the criticism category, and commentary winner Nicholas D. Kristof of The New York Times.
The Pulitzer for biography went to Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird for their American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. In an earlier interview with NPR, Bird said Oppenheimer "discovered quantum physics and fell in love with it. The quantum physics, in effect, sort of rescued him from his emotional crisis."
The prize for Poetry went to Claudia Emerson for her book Late Wife. And the award for music was given to composer Yehudi Wyner for his Piano Concerto: 'Chiavi in Mano'.
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