The Hindu News Update Service

New York (AP): The Washington Post won six Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, including the public service medal for exposing shoddy treatment of America's war wounded at Walter Reed hospital, and the breaking-news award for coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre.

The New York Times received two Pulitzers: one for investigative reporting, for stories on toxic ingredients in medicine and other products imported from China, and one for explanatory reporting, for examining the ethical issues surrounding DNA testing.

The Post's other awards were for:

National reporting, for its exploration of Vice President Dick Cheney's backstage influence;

International reporting, for a series on how private security contractors in Iraq operate outside the laws governing US forces;

Feature writing, for Gene Weingarten's story on world-class violinist Joshua Bell, who, in an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station to gauge commuters' reaction;

Commentary, for Steven Pearlstein's columns on the nation's economic problems.

The Chicago Tribune also won in the investigative reporting category, for stories exposing faulty government regulation that resulted in recalls of car seats, toys and cribs.

The Pulitzers are US journalism's highest honour, and the public service award is the most distinguished of all.

The awards are given by Columbia University on the recommendation of the 18-member Pulitzer board.

The awards carry a prize of $ 10,000, except for the public service award, in which a gold medal is awarded to the newspaper.