By Joe Bardi and Wayne Garcia

The top editors knew on Friday, but the rest of the staff weren’t clued until earlier today. By 3 p.m., however, the newsroom at the St. Petersburg Times was filled with reporters and editors awaiting the formal announcement of the news: the Times had picked up two Pulitzer Prizes.

It is a gigantic coup and shot in the arm for Florida’s largest daily. Although the paper has won the award in the past (most recently for Jeff Good’s editorials in 1995 and Tom French’s feature writing in 1998), winning two in one year was unprecedented for it. The two awards: one for national coverage for its Politifact.com fact-checking website and the other for feature writing for Lane DeGregory’s “The Girl in the Window.”

They are the seventh and eights Pulitzers for the Times. (Here’s a full list of them.)

The Times John Barry was also a finalist for the feature writing award. And former prominent Times reporter David Barstow, now a staple at The New York Times, won a Pulitzer for his work exposing how former generals and other military leaders pimp themselves out as TV and media “experts” while still getting talking points from the DOD.

The newsroom celebrated with champagne and cake. We congratulate the Times on a job well done. After all, one Pulitzer is golden, but two in one day? Incredible!

Here is the Times‘ own Eric Deggans’ coverage. And for the full disclosuristas among us, let’s put on the record that Times‘ CEO, president, top editor etc. Paul Tash is a member of the Pulitzer Board, although no board member is allowed to judge their own newspaper’s work.

For a complete list of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners, go here.