Snowden, a former contract employee at the NSA, has been charged with espionage and other offenses in the US and could get 30 years in prison if convicted. He has received asylum in Russia.
In a statement issued by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Snowden saluted "the brave reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation, including the forced destruction of journalistic materials, the inappropriate use of terrorism laws, and so many other means of pressure to get them to stop.''
Snowden said awarding the top prize in US journalism to his colleagues is "a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government.''
He added that the reporters he worked with faced "extraordinary intimidation'' and other pressure to get them to stop reporting.
Snowden added: "Their work has given us a better future and a more accountable democracy.''
Snowden's supporters have likened his disclosures to the release of the Pentagon Papers, the secret Vietnam War history whose publication by The New York Times in 1971 won the newspaper a Pulitzer. His critics have branded him a criminal.
"To be rewarding illegal conduct, to be enabling a traitor like Snowden, to me is not something that should be rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize,'' said Rep. Peter King, R-New York. "Snowden has violated his oath. He has put American lives at risk.''
At Boston Globe, the newsroom was closed off to outsiders, and staff members marked the announcement of the breaking-news award _ coming just a day before the anniversary of the bombing _ with a moment of silence for the victims.
