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2012 Pulitzer Prizes

Journalism

Category
Winners
Finalists

The Philadelphia Inquirer

For its exploration of pervasive violence in the city's schools, using powerful print narratives and videos to illuminate crimes committed by children against children and to stir reforms to improve safety for teachers and students.
Finalists:

Staff of The Tuscaloosa News

For its enterprising coverage of a deadly tornado, using social media as well as traditional reporting to provide real-time updates, help locate missing people and produce in-depth print accounts even after power disruption forced the paper to publish at another plant 50 miles away.
Finalists:

Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of the Associated Press

For their spotlighting of the New York Police Department's clandestine spying program that monitored daily life in Muslim communities, resulting in congressional calls for a federal investigation, and a debate over the proper role of domestic intelligence gathering.

Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times

For their investigation of how a little known governmental body in Washington State moved vulnerable patients from safer pain-control medication to methadone, a cheaper but more dangerous drug, coverage that prompted statewide health warnings.
Finalists:

David Kocieniewski of The New York Times

For his lucid series that penetrated a legal thicket to explain how the nation's wealthiest citizens and corporations often exploited loopholes and avoided taxes.
Finalists:

Sara Ganim and members of The Patriot-News Staff, Harrisburg, PA

For courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Finalists:

David Wood of The Huffington Post

For his riveting exploration of the physical and emotional challenges facing American soldiers severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan during a decade of war.
Finalists:

Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times

For his vivid reports, often at personal peril, on famine and conflict in East Africa, a neglected but increasingly strategic part of the world.
Finalists:

Eli Sanders of The Stranger, a Seattle (Wash.) weekly

For his haunting story of a woman who survived a brutal attack that took the life of her partner, using the woman's brave courtroom testimony and the details of the crime to construct a moving narrative.
Finalists:

Mary Schmich of Chicago Tribune

For her wide range of down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city.
Finalists:

Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe

For his smart, inventive film criticism, distinguished by pinpoint prose and an easy traverse between the art house and the big-screen box office.
Finalists:

Massoud Hossaini of Agence France-Presse

For his heartbreaking image of a girl crying in fear after a suicide bomber's attack at a crowded shrine in Kabul.
Finalists:

Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post

For his compassionate chronicle of an honorably discharged veteran, home from Iraq and struggling with a severe case of post-traumatic stress, images that enable viewers to better grasp a national issue.
Finalists:

Matt Wuerker of POLITICO

For his consistently fresh, funny cartoons, especially memorable for lampooning the partisan conflict that engulfed Washington.
Finalists:

Special Citations

Books, Drama & Music

Category
Winners
Finalists

Water by the Spoonful, by Quiara Alegría Hudes

An imaginative play about the search for meaning by a returning Iraq war veteran working in a sandwich shop in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Finalists:

Life on Mars, by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press)

A collection of bold, skillful poems, taking readers into the universe and moving them to an authentic mix of joy and pain.
Finalists:

Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts, by Kevin Puts (Aperto Press)

A stirring opera that recounts the true story of a spontaneous cease-fire among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I, displaying versatility of style and cutting straight to the heart. Libretto by Mark Campbell (Aperto Press).
Finalists: