Danny Hakim and Russell Buettner share the $15,000 Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize, given in cooperation with Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication and the Farfel Endowment, for their New York Times series "Abused and Used." Their year-long investigation of more than 2,000 state-run homes for the developmentally disabled has led to much-needed reforms and added oversight.

The Arizona Republic in Phoenix receives $10,000 and a trophy for "Tucson Tragedy," Jan. 8 coverage of the shooting that killed six and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

California Watch and The Center for Investigative Reporting receive $10,000 and the Roy W. Howard Award for "On Shaky Ground," a 19-month investigation exposing flaws in seismic safety compliance and oversight at public schools. The series appeared in more than 150 news outlets across the state, prompting measures that will better prepare school children for the next big earthquake.

Jamie Lucke of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader receives $10,000 and the Walker Stone Award for editorials that took on Kentucky's powerful coal industry while speaking for the voiceless and powerless in Appalachia.

Brian McGrory of The Boston Globe receives $10,000 and a trophy for helping a priest clear his name, cutting to the core of Mitt Romney, and an array of other thought-provoking columns about big events and small moments.

Corinne Reilly of The Virginian-Pilot receives $10,000 and the Ernie Pyle Award for "A Chance in Hell," a series about a combat hospital in Kandahar, where Navy personnel from the newspaper's Norfolk, Va., coverage area are serving.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette receives $10,000 and the Edward J. Meeman Award for "Pipeline," a news website led by Erich Schwartzel and Elisabeth Ponsot that's dedicated to explaining the economic, environmental and political effects of the natural gas industry's Marcellus Shale drilling.

Damian Paletta of The Wall Street Journal receives $10,000 and the Raymond Clapper Award for "Disabled System," a five-part series that exposed pervasive mismanagement in the Social Security Disability Insurance system.

Jack Ohman of The (Portland) Oregonian receives $10,000 and a trophy for multi-panel cartoons that addressed national issues from a local perspective.

Lara Solt of The Dallas Morning News receives $10,000 and a trophy for a portfolio that included "Hell and Hope: Haiti's Orphans," and "An Unending Battle: A Military Family's Struggle with Traumatic Brain Injury."

Paul Kiel and Olga Pierce of ProPublica receive $10,000 and the William Brewster Styles Award for exposing the crushing failure of industry and government responses to the foreclosure crisis.

Sara Ganim and the staff of The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa., receive $10,000 and a trophy for "Jerry Sandusky and Penn State," a two-year investigation that led to nationwide coverage of the child sex abuse scandal and its impact on the university.

Dan Grech and Kenny Malone of WLRN-Miami Herald News receive $10,000 and the Jack R. Howard Award for "Neglected to Death," a series that uncovered rampant abuse and neglect within Florida's assisted living industry and helped prompt an unprecedented crackdown by the state, a special task force by the governor and a grand jury by Miami-Dade's state attorney.

Al Jazeera English receives $10,000 and the Jack R. Howard Award for "Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark" a documentary by May Ying Welsh, with support from Jon Blair, Tuki Laumea and Hassan Mahfood, that covered demonstrators' pro-democracy protests during the height of the Arab revolutions and the regime's brutal response.

Jonathan Austin and Susan Austin of the Yancey County News, Burnsville, N.C., receive $10,000 and the Edward Willis Scripps Award for "Unlawful Law Enforcement," which exposed absentee ballot fraud, ethics violations, abuse of arrest powers, and the theft and illegal sale of county-owned firearms – all during the newspaper's first year of operation and despite risks both financial and physical.