Which of the following newspapers won the 'Pulitzer Prize, 2021' in the prestigious public service category ?

The answer is B) The New York Times. The Pulitzer Public Service Gold Medal is the most prestigious of the journalism awards. It goes to a newspaper for a body of work that makes a measurable difference to public life, and it is awarded by the Pulitzer Board, which is based at Columbia University. Confirm the 2021 citation against the official Pulitzer list before you rely on it in an exam setting.

• The Wall Street Journal (A) is a leading business daily. It has won Pulitzers in other categories, but not the 2021 Public Service award.
• The Washington Post (C) is a major Pulitzer winner in other years, but it was not the 2021 Public Service laureate.
• New York Post (D) is a tabloid and has no Pulitzer Public Service win in this period.

Core concept: awards that recognise institutional journalism, a category UPPSC often tests through current-affairs awards. For Mains, it connects to the role of the free press as a fourth pillar of democracy under GS-II and to media accountability.

Trap: candidates often confuse the Public Service award (given to a newspaper) with individual categories such as Investigative Reporting or Feature Writing, which go to named journalists.