The award for public service, considered the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, went to The Anchorage Daily News, which collaborated with ProPublica for a yearlong investigation of sexual violence in Alaska.

The series uncovered a “two-tiered” criminal justice system in the state, in which rural communities, disproportionately populated by Indigenous people, had limited or no access to law enforcement and four times as many sex offenders as the United States’ per-capita national average.

“This shows what’s possible in a small newsroom,” said David Hulen, the editor of The Anchorage Daily News, in a phone interview Monday.