Washington Post reporter Caroline Kitchener won the national reporting Pulitzer for her coverage of abortion in the US after the Supreme Court last year overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that had legalized the procedure nationwide.

Reuters was a finalist in national reporting for stories revealing the widespread use of child labour among Hyundai Motor Co suppliers in Alabama as well as international reporting for an investigative series exposing human-rights abuses by the Nigerian military against women and children during its war with Islamist militants.

The Wall Street Journal won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for revealing financial conflicts of interest among officials at dozens of federal agencies. The Los Angeles Times won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for revealing a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments.

The annual Pulitzer awards, first presented in 1917, are the most prestigious honours in US journalism. They are named for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911. In his will, Pulitzer left money to create the prizes and establish a journalism school at Columbia University.

The Pulitzers also hand out awards in eight categories for books, music and drama.

A board comprised mostly of leading editors or executives at major US media outlets presides over the judging process.