The Huffington Post, often blasted by critics for its use of aggregation, won its first Pulitzer Prize today. David Wood, HuffPo’s Senior Military Correspondent, won a National Reporting prize for his 10 part series, titled “Beyond The Battlefield.” Wood is a veteran journalist, but has only been with HuffPo for a few months.

Arianna Huffington and the rest of HuffPo’s staffers have got to be holding themselves back from gloating over the win, considering how much the site has been attacked for being nothing more than slideshows and over-aggregation. Natually, Huffington took the high road:

We are delighted and deeply honored by the award, which recognizes both David’s exemplary piece of purposeful journalism and HuffPost’s commitment to original reporting that affects both the national conversation and the lives of real people. From the beginning, one of the core pillars of HuffPost’s editorial philosophy has been to use narrative and storytelling to put flesh and blood on data and statistics, and to help bear witness to the struggles faced by millions of Americans.