"His compelling pictures showed skill and bravery," the Pulitzer Prize committee said in its release.
Hicks receives a prize of $10,000 for winning the award.
A 1988 graduate of Staples High School, this is Hicks' first individual Pulitzer Prize and second overall. He shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for international reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the New York Times.
Hicks and fellow Westport native and New York Times reporter Lynsey Addario were captured and eventually freed by forces loyal to former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi during the 2011 revolution that toppled that government.
Hicks currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Click here to see all of this year's Pulitzer Prize recipients.
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