A deep report on the fear and violence plaguing urban schools brought the Philadelphia Inquirer the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday, while the New York Times won two awards as Columbia University announced the winners of journalism’s top prizes.

The two victories by the New York Times -- for reporting on east Africa and for exposing tax avoidance by General Electric Co.-- made it the only double winner. It was a year in which the judges bypassed coverage of some of the most catastrophic news events dominating the headlines in 2011, such as the violent conflict in the Mideast and an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan.

The Inquirer’s win for “Assault on Learning” was a boon for one of America’s oldest newspapers, which recently emerged from bankruptcy and a pair of ownership changes. The judges praised the work — led by reporters John Sullivan, Susan Snyder, Kristen A. Graham, Dylan Purcell and Jeff Gammage — for using a multi-media presentation to reveal pervasive violence in the public schools and to “stir reforms to improve safety for teachers and students.”