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Pulitzer prize for former Reuters journalist

William Rashbaum (photo), a Reuters journalist in New York from 1989 to 1993, has won a Pulitzer prize for his crime reporting.

It was one of five Pulitzers won by The New York Times in this year’s awards.

Rashbaum’s prize was for breaking the news that New York state governor Eliot Spitzer paid an escort service for prostitution. Spitzer resigned days after publication of the story.

Rashbaum and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr received the biggest applause when Times staffers gathered in the newsroom on Monday to celebrate the award.

Executive editor Bill Keller said Rashbaum “presents a skill set that takes decades of dedication," and Sulzberger “really believes in this, as a civic responsibility and good business".

Keller added: "It comes in a year when a lot of newspapers are on the ropes, it is a reminder of what newspapers can do that others can’t…” Rashbaum “has sources everywhere. As much as I love the idea of citizen journalism, it takes time to grow people like that,” he said.

Rashbaum said it was fun - hard work, but fun. A native New Yorker, he has covered the New York Police Department and crime in New York for The New York Times since 1999, serving until recently as the newspaper's police bureau chief. Previously he covered crime and criminal justice issues for the New York Daily News, New York Newsday, Reuters, UPI, and Hearst Newspapers. ■