Today Columbia University announced the winners of the 2011 Pulitzer Prizes. The chosen ones will pick up their Daniel Chester French-designed medals at a luncheon next month at Columbia. In the always intriguing criticism category, Sebastian Smee of The Boston Globe got the nod for his “vivid and exuberant writing about art, often bringing great works to life with love and appreciation.” Among the other finalists: Nicolai Ouroussoff of The New York Times for his “well honed architectural criticism, highlighted by ambitious essays on the burst of architectural projects in oil-rich Middle East countries.” Taking home the prize in the editorial cartooning category was Mike Keefe of The Denver Post, who bested finalists Matt Davies (The Journal News) and Joel Pett (Lexington Herald-Leader). As for photography, Carol Guzy, Nikki Kahn, and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post won in the breaking news photography category for their “up-close portrait of grief and desperation after a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti,” while Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times won the feature photograpy prize for her “intimate story of innocent victims trapped in the city’s crossfire of deadly gang violence.”