2009 Pulitzer Prize winners announced

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners have been announced in 21 categories during a ceremony at Columbia University in the city of New York. Established by journalist and newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, the annual prize is an award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. Only reports and photographs published by US-based newspapers or daily news organizations can be nominated for the journalism prize. Since 2007, however, online elements have also been permitted in all journalism categories except for the competition's two photography categories, which restrict entries to still images. The complete list of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners is as follows: Journalism: Public Service, Las Vegas Sun Breaking News Reporting, The New York Times staff Investigative Reporting, David Barstow, The New York Times Explanatory Reporting, Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times Local Reporting, Detroit Free Press staff and Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin, East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ National Reporting, St. Petersburg Times staff International Reporting, The New York Times staff Feature Writing, Lane DeGregory, St. Petersburg Times Commentary, Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post Criticism, Holland Cotter, The New York Times Editorial Writing, Mark Mahoney, The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY Editorial Cartooning, Steve Breen, The San Diego Union-Tribune Breaking News Photography, Patrick Farrell, The Miami Herald Feature Photography, Damon Winter, The New York Times Letters, Drama and Music: Fiction Elizabeth Strout for Olive Kitteridge (Random House) Drama Lynn Nottage for Ruined History Annette Gordon-Reed for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W.W. Norton & Company) Biography Jon Meacham for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (Random House) Poetry W.S. Merwin for The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon Press) General Nonfiction Douglas A. Blackmon for Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (Doubleday) Music Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes)