Jonathan Dube reports: "In the first year since the Pulitzer Prizes changed their rules to allow online components in most categories, five winning entries included online elements... Online material was part of the winning entries in both Public Service Awards, the Breaking News reporting award and the photography awards."

Since 1999, the Pulitzer Board has allowed nominees for online content in the public service category. In 2005, the Board changed its policy to include online content, consisting of text and pictures, in all categories. Sig Gissler, the administrator of the prizes: "We're moving in the right direction... [We will] be fine-tuning the rules as we proceed."

More info from Editor and Publisher: "Winning entries that included online elements were in Public Service, where the Times-Picayune of New Orleans and the Sun-Herald of Biloxi, Miss. shared the prize for Hurricane Katrina coverage; Breaking News, also won by the Times-Picayune for Katrina coverage; Breaking News Photography, in which the Dallas Morning News won for Katrina as well; and Feature Photography to the Rocky Mountain News of Denver for a series on funerals for returning marines from Iraq".

Steve Yelvington comments on the prize board's omission of audio and video content: "The Pulitzers are caught between worlds. In the old world, a newspaper clearly was ink on dead wood. Television could be kept at arm's length. But the new world has arrived. Perhaps it's time to focus on the journalism, not on the medium."

A full list of the 2006 Pulizer Prize winners can be found at Pulitzer.org.

Terry Heaton weighs in on the possible effects of on-demand network programming on local network affiliates: "Attempts by stations... to stream their signal, including network programming, are extremely cool, but the strategy is questionable in an increasingly on-demand culture. All this does is shift the broadcast model to the web, and that, folks, isn't what the disruption is all about.

"Those in the industry who think that anything about their business model or brand will carry them into tomorrow are sadly mistaken. Local broadcasters are so far behind the curve on new media technology (except for podcasts, but that's not really new media) that it will likely be too late when the rug is pulled out from underneath them..."

He continues: "When I do my dog-n-pony show, companies easily 'get' the idea of unbundling their content and distributing it (with commercials) via aggregators of every kind, but the light bulbs above their heads often go out when I start talking about building new business models that don't necessarily involve their content. Yet, this is exactly where the money (and especially the future money) can be found. The smart aggregator business in every market is wide open for the taking, but few are headed there, mostly because they just can't, don't or won't see it."