A local US newspaper has won a special Pulitzer for its "courageous response" after a gunman opened fire in its newsroom and killed five journalists. Prizes also recognized investigations of Donald Trump and his family.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Ngan
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The Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in American journalism recognized three local newspapers for their coverage of gun violence in 2018.
Staff gathered together ahead of the announcement to remember their slain colleagues. "Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings," editor Rick Hutzell said. "No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends."
14 students and three staff members were killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018Image: Getty Images/J. Raedle
The Pulitzer for public service went to the South Florida Sun Sentinel for its reporting on the failings of authorities before and after a mass shooting in February 2018 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen staff and students were killed in the massacre.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won a breaking news reporting award for its coverage of a shooting in October at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which 11 people lost their lives.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels claims she had an affair with Donald TrumpImage: Reuters/Brendan Mcdermid/Joshua Roberts
The New York Times was honored for its explanatory reporting on US President Donald Trump's finances and tax avoidance.
The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting prize for exposing Trump's hush payments to two women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him.
Reuters won an international reporting award for revealing the massacre of Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers by security forces in Myanmar. The Associated Press was also recognized for documenting atrocities and suffering in Yemen's civil war.
The Pulitzers, the most prestigious prize in US journalism, were first established in 1917 by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.
Pulitzer-winning photographer Yannis Behrakis dies at age 58
His poignant photos of war, humanitarian crises and civil unrest made him one of the best photojournalists of his generation. Here are some of the images that made Greek photographer Yannis Behrakis legendary.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Capturing a moment
Greek photojournalist Yannis Behrakis often worked on the front lines of catastrophes. He captured scenes of war and political crises as well as touching scenes in humanitarian catastrophes. In this picture taken in 2015, he photographed Syrian refugees stranded in the Aegean Sea off the island of Lesbos. The father, pictured here, desperately fought for the lives of his children.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
A fight for survival
A fight over a loaf of bread quickly becomes a struggle for survival between Kurdish refugees in need of food. Here, the photographer shows us a typical scene in a refugee camp on the Turkish-Iraqi border. The picture shows how the camp was completely overcrowded in April 1991 at a time where there was hardly any food or water.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
A keen eye
The lives of people in war zones was a frequent theme in Behrakis' work. The photojournalist traveled through many countries to document the everyday lives of those who were uprooted. This Albanian man, photographed by Behrakis in Lapusnik near Pristina in 1998, watches the street through shattered glass. Behrakis' eye for narrative imagery earned him many awards.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Civil protest
On the sidelines of his wartime reporting, for which he was sent to countries and crisis areas around the world, Behrakis repeatedly captured moments of civil protest. Here, after the victory of the opposition over the Taliban regime in 2001, a young Afghan woman appears in public for the first time without a burka.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Life during war
Image composition and strong contrasts are hallmarks of Yannis Behrakis' photos. Here, in 2001, he documented the everyday presence of the military troops in Afghanistan, of which this veiled woman takes little notice. In 2016, he and a team from Reuters received the Pulitzer Prize.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Celebrating the end
Young men and residents of the Afghan capital of Kabul welcome anti-Taliban alliance troops who reached city limits on November 13, 2001. The civilian population was on the streets of Kabul to celebrate the change from the Taliban regime. Yannis Behrakis caught the scenes with his camera.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
War and peace
To capture life beyond the context of conflict, Behrakis often took extra time on his travels and photographed peaceful scenes. Here, a survivor of the severe 2006 earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan arranges the property she has salvaged.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Protest movements
As a frontline reporter, Behrakis captured the protests in Taksim Square in Istanbul. In June 2013, young people protested against dictatorial repression by the Turkish government and Behrakis was among the photojournalists who told their story.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Faces of war
At first glance, this photo looks like a scene from the epicenter of a battlefield. But it is "only" the beginning of violent protests in the Greek capital of Athens. Behrakis, who captured the explosiveness of such perilous moments in his photographs, thought of them as a means of political protest.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
A celebrated photographer
Yannis Behrakis died in Athens on March 2 at the age of 58, after a long battle with cancer. For more than 30 years, the dedicated war reporter worked for news agency Reuters. "He was one of the best photographers of his generation," said Istanbul-based photographer Lefteris Pitarakis. "He influenced a generation of photographers," added another one of his colleagues.