Washington Post wins Pulitzer Prize for public service

The booker t. Washington carry won the joseph pulitzer treasure for public serve for scrutinizing the Trump administration's sweeping, uneven cuts and changes to federal agencies, while The Associated Press won the prize for international reporting Monday.

The Post's coverage illuminated the fast-moving, sometimes opaque details of U.S. President Donald Trump's drive to reshape the national government, and judges credited the newspaper with showing what those changes meant for individual Americans.

The Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown received a special citation for her reporting, published nearly a decade ago, that drew attention to Jeffrey Epstein's abuses. The New York Times won three of the coveted prizes, Reuters won two, and smaller outlets ranging from The Connecticut Mirror to the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out were also recognized in a challenging year for American journalism.

In recent months, the Post cut a third of its staff, CBS News announced it would shutter its nearly century-old radio service, The Associated Press offered buyouts to over 120 journalists and some regional newspapers also struggled publicly. CBS parent Paramount's acquisition of CNN has raised questions about what comes next for those networks. Meanwhile, Trump continued to bash — and sometimes sue — outlets whose coverage he finds objectionable.

"This is always a day of celebration in our communities, but perhaps never more so than today as we face tremendous" challenges, prize administrator Marjorie Miller said in a livestream announcing the awards.

Spanning three years, thousands of pages of documents and numerous interviews, the AP project found that American companies help lay the foundations of the Chinese government's system for monitoring and policing its citizens.

Other stories examined how, across presidential administrations, Washington allowed tech companies and Beijing to skirt regulations meant to bar China's access to certain materials, such as advanced computer chips.

"This was sweeping and deeply impactful reporting, the kind of work that highlights the unique strengths of AP's global, multiformat newsroom," executive editor Julie Pace said in an email to staffers. She is among the Pulitzer Board's new members.

Reuters won the award for national reporting. Its work examined how Trump has used the federal government and the influence of his supporters to expand presidential authority and try to punish his foes, the judges said.

It was one of two awards for Reuters. Its reporting on social media giant Meta won a prize in the newly revived category for beat-reporting category.

The Minnesota Star Tribune's coverage of last year's mass shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school won the prize for breaking news.

Judges praised the "thoroughness and compassion" of the newspaper's reporting on the carnage in its hometown. Two children were killed and more than a dozen others were injured when a shooter opened fire during the school's first Mass of the academic year. The shooter was later found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Post also won the feature photography prize for a visual essay about a family welcoming a first-born child as the father grappled with terminal cancer.

The Pulitzer journalism awards recognize work done in 2025 by U.S. News sites, newspapers, magazines and wire services in text, photo and audio. Video and graphics can be part of an entry package. The websites of television and radio stations are also eligible, so long as their entries focus on written material.

Separately, Monday's awards also honoured books, music and theatre.

The Pulitzer Prizes were established in newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer's will and were first awarded in 1917. Winners receive $15,000, and the prestigious public service award comes with a gold medal.

The awards are decided by the Pulitzer Board, based at Columbia University in New York.

---

---