The Guardian US and The Washington Post have won a Pulitzer Prize for their stories exposing National Security Agency surveillance. Handing out the award for public service journalism, the Pulitzer committee said the disclosure of mass spying “[helped] spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy.” The reporting was based on the leaks of whistleblower Edward Snowden, who shared NSA files with journalists Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Barton Gellman. The group also won a George Polk journalism award last week. In a statement, Snowden honored the journalists involved, saying: “This decision reminds us that what no individual conscience can change, a free press can. … Their work has given us a better future and a more accountable democracy.”