PUBLIC SERVICE: The Philadelphia Inquirer

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING: The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News Staff

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of The Associated Press and Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times

EXPLANATORY REPORTING:  David Kocieniewski of The New York Times

LOCAL REPORTING: Sara Ganim and members of The Patriot-News Staff, Harrisburg, Pa.

NATIONAL REPORTING:  David Wood of The Huffington Post

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING: Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times 

FEATURE WRITING: Eli Sanders of The Stranger, a Seattle weekly

COMMENTARY: Mary Schmich of The Chicago Tribune

CRITICISM: Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe

EDITORIAL WRITING: No award [surprising]

EDITORIAL CARTOONING: Matt Wuerker of Politico

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY: Massoud Hossaini of Agence France-Presse

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY: Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post

LETTERS AND DRAMA

FICTION: No award [very surprising]

DRAMA: “Water by the Spoonful” by Quiara Alegría Hudes

HISTORY: “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” by Manning Marable, awarded posthumously (Viking)

BIOGRAPHY: “George F. Kennan: An American Life” by John Lewis Gaddis (The Penguin Press)

POETRY: “Life on Mars” by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press)             

GENERAL NONFICTION: “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” by Stephen Greenblatt (W. W. Norton and Company)

MUSIC: “Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts” by Kevin Puts, commissioned and premiered by the Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis on Nov. 12, 2011.