In a year filled with massive challenges and enormous stories, from natural disasters to unnatural behavior, journalists stepped up to the task in a big way. From WaPo and the NYT to the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, here’s a look at this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners. (With the current news pace, they should give out a Pulitzer a week.)

+ The prize everyone has been rapping about is Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer for his studio album DAMN. “It’s the first time the music category has recognized a body of work that is not from the jazz or classical genre.” (While everyone else is celebrating, Kendrick Lamar has to come up with something that rhymes with Pulitzer…)

+ Poynter: This photojournalist won a Pulitzer for an image he made on his last day in the newsroom.