The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners

PUBLIC SERVICE: Alexandra Berzon and the staff of The Las Vegas Sun

Berzon was cited for "courageous reporting" that exposed a high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas strip and how lax safety rules and the rush to build quickly contributed to the injury and death rate.

The newspaper reported that 12 workers had died within 18 months on the Strip in the middle of a $32 billion building boom, including the largest private commercial development in U.S. history.

Ten weeks after the first stories appeared in March 2008, the newspaper wrote in its entry letter, workers walked out at MGM Mirage's $9.2 billion CityCenter project. The paper said that no workers died after the industry made safety improvements three months after the stories were published.

"To see things change as a result, that is really a satisfying thing as a reporter," said Berzon, a 29-year-old writer who joined the paper 18 months ago.

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BREAKING NEWS REPORTING: The New York Times staff

The New York Times was honored for "swift and sweeping coverage" of the sex scandal that ruined Gov. Eliot Spitzer's political career.

The newspaper's metropolitan staff broke the story on its Web site that Spitzer had been snared in a federal investigation as a customer of a high-priced prostitution ring. Just over an hour later, Spitzer issued a public apology. He resigned two days later.

The newspaper was also first to identify the prostitute that Spitzer met with in a Washington, D.C., hotel in February, recounted in an indictment listing the governor as "Client 9."

The newspaper wrote in its entry letter that it began pursuing a tip three days before its first story that a public official had been implicated in the indictment.

Over the weekend, the newspaper wrote in its entry letter, reporters began visiting Washington hotels, went to the homes of people charged with leading the prostitution ring and tracked down Spitzer's regular driver in Washington.

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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: David Barstow of The New York Times

Barstow won his second Pulitzer for reporting on military analysts who acted as television war commentators and their conflicts with the Pentagon and their own businesses, which benefited form U.S. military policy.

Barstow's piece, "Message Machine," showed how the Pentagon recruited the analysts to make the case for the war in Iraq, sometimes rewarding favorable commentary with access to U.S. contracting officials. The Pentagon suspended its program, which offered trips and briefing for favored analysts after Barstow's piece appeared in April 2008.