The Guardian and the Washington Post have been awarded the Pulitzer prize for public service for their articles on the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities, based on the leaks of Edward Snowden.

The highest accolade in US journalism was announced in New York last night - 10 months after the Guardian published the first report revealing the NSA's collection of US citizens’ phone records.

The Pulitzer committee praised The Guardian for its "revelation of widespread secret surveillance by the NSA - helping ...to spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy".