WHCA will not hold 2021 dinner; plans rollout of other salutes to journalism

We regret to announce that we are unable to hold our annual dinner this year.

We have worked through any number of scenarios over the last several months, but to put it plainly: while improving rapidly, the COVID-19 landscape is just not at a place where we could make the necessary decisions to go ahead with such a large indoor event.

Dinner or not, we will spend the next few months celebrating and honoring the First Amendment, the remarkable journalism produced over the last year and the promising young reporters who will serve as the next generation in our ranks.

–We will soon announce our annual awards for the very best in presidential news coverage, not to mention the second annual Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability of national significance;

–In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing our latest cohort of WHCA Scholarship winners from around the country, a truly impressive group of up-and-coming journalists;

–We have planned a series of events to showcase the best of journalism, in part for those very students;

–And last but surely not least, we will do all this in person next year, with the WHCA annual dinner on April 30, 2022.

Our top priority remains ensuring that journalists can continue to safely work from the White House and fulfill their vital role in keeping the public informed. Expect information in the coming weeks about our annual membership town hall, at which we will outline plans to safely begin easing some virus-related restrictions.

-The White House Correspondents’ Association