According to The New York Times today, the most prestigious of the Pulitzer Prizes for journalism were awarded for a series of high number of deaths resulting from domestic abuse in South Carolina. The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., with a staff of about 80 and a daily circulation of 85,000 were the recipients of the award, after coming out with a series, which was awarded the gold medal for public service.

This award comes as the first Pulitzer prize the paper has won since 1925, after releasing a series entitled “Till Death Do Us Part.” In due part, the surprise surrounding the recipient of the acclaimed prize was because of the size of the paper. The paper is small in nature.

In the international reporting category, The New York Times received the Pulitzer for “courageous front-line reporting and vivid human stories” on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which was largely covered in the news. According to the people at Pulitzer, The New York Times did it best.

Feature photography went to a remarkable individual, Daniel Berehulak, who also worked closely to the Ebola outbreak and its deadly spread in West Africa.

The Times continued to sweep the awards with the prize for investigative reporting, for a series by Eric Lipton covering the topic of aggressive efforts by lobbyists and lawyers in Washington “to push state attorneys general to drop investigations, change policies, negotiate favorable settlements or pressure federal regulator to benefit their clients.”

The Los Angeles Times won two Pulitzers, with Diana Marcum winning for feature writing after releasing her stories from the Central Valley of California on how the state’s drought affected the lives of residents. In addition to Marcum, the newspaper won for the criticism prize with Mary McNamara’s writing on television and culture taking the top prize in that subject.

For breaking news, The Seattle Times took the cake for its account of a deadly landslide and its follow-up reporting.

For the complete list, see: The New York Times.