The Philadelphia Inquirer was awarded a prestigious Pulitzer prize for Public Service on Monday. The Pulitzer website says the paper was given the award for "its exploration and pervasive violence in the city's schools, using powerful print narratives and videos to illuminate crimes committed by children against children and to stir reforms to improve safety for teachers and students."
Five reporters at the paper spent a year exploring violence in the city's schools and presented their findings in a seven-part series called "Assault on Learning."
The paper has received 19 Pulitzers in its history and this is its first award since 1997.
The Pulitzer for Local Reporting was given out to Reporter Sara Ganim and the staff of the Patriot-News of Harrisburg for "courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky," according to the Pulitzer website.
The newspaper was the first to report that a grand jury was investigating Jerry Sandusky last March, and also the first to report sex-abuse charges were being filed against Sandusky in November.
The Patriot-News has featured 109 print stories about the sex-abuse scandal, and posted close to 600 stories on its website.
Reporter Sara Ganim is 24-years-old and a graduate of Penn State University.
