More photos of the story

Devon Fisher, 8, Cavel Fisher Clay, 33, (C) and Alexis Fisher, 14, (R) wait in a hostile line for buses to the Houston Astrodome in a photo published September 1, 2005 and released April 17, 2006 by the Pulitzer Prize Committee. The photograph taken by Michael Ainsworth of the Dallas Morning News was part of a collection of photos by the staff that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. (Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

    WASHINGTON, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Two local newspapers won the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for their brave and detailed coverage of Hurricane Katrina which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast regions in August 2005.

    They are The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, Louisiana, and The Sun Herald of Gulfport, Mississippi.

    The Times-Picayune also won the Pulitzer in breaking news reporting for its Katrina coverage.

    Like their communities, the two newspapers took a beating from Katrina. Their buildings were damaged, advertisers and subscriberswere displaced, and circulation dropped.

    However, The Sun Herald never missed an edition during the crisis.

    The Times-Picayune evacuated about 240 employees in the back ofnewspaper delivery trucks as water from a levee breach rose aroundthe plant, located in the central part of the city.

    In other categories of the Pulitzer Prize, Susan Schmidt, JamesV. Grimaldi and R. Jeffrey Smith of The Washington Post received the award for investigative reporting for their stories on the scandal of former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

    Reporters of the newspaper also won the prize for explanatory reporting and the prize on the beat reporting category.

    The award for national reporting goes to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times and the staffs of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service,

    James Kahn and Jim Yardley of the New York Times won the award for international reporting.

    The Pulitzer for commentary also goes to Nicholas D. Kristof ofthe newspaper.

    Jim Sheeler of the Rocky Mountain News were honored for featurewriting.

    The annual Pulitzer awards, including 19 categories and two special awards, are announced by the Columbia University in New York on the recommendation of the 18-member panel.

    The Pulitzers were created under the terms of the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911.

    He endowed the journalism school at Columbia, and dictated thatmoney be set aside for the prizes. The first awards were handed out in 1917. Enditem