The White House Correspondents’ Association this week gave its President’s Award for Exceptional Service to the White House Correspondents’ Association to George Lehner, the association’s counsel for the last 18 years.

Lehner, who has worked countless hours as a champion of the First Amendment and the White House press, all pro-bono, is retiring at the end of the current board term in July.

In his nearly two decades of service, Lehner has been a critical adviser on issues ranging from news coverage during periods of great challenges at the White House, membership during a time of explosive growth, and even on questions of agreements with the entertainer at the WHCA annual dinner.

“George Lehner has provided wise counsel and deep insight that helped our board be more effective in service to the press corps and the association,” said Kelly O’Donnell, president of the association.

“I am grateful for his steady influence and generous spirit.  His knowledge and passion for a free press and the First Amendment have made a huge impact.  18 years of volunteer service to the WHCA is an extraordinary gift that has made many iterations of our board stronger and better.”

Among his many contributions:

–Filed Amicus briefs in both federal courts regarding the denial of access to White House journalists;

–Was a key adviser in opposition to the White House exclusion of press photographers and video journalists in favor of White House-managed photos and videos;

–Advised and coordinated numerous By-Laws updates that govern the association;

–Advised on the financing of the recent renovation of the press workspace and briefing room at the White House;

–Defended the association in court over claims of discrimination in the WHCA annual dinner.

The award was approved unanimously by the WHCA Board.

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About the WHCA

Founded in 1914, the White House Correspondents’ Association exists to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency, and to promote excellence in journalism and journalism education. Each day, we work to ensure that the men and women who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President. We also support awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, and scholarships for young reporters who carry our hopes for vibrant journalism in the years to come.  Our association comprises hundreds of members from the worlds of print, television, radio and online journalism. Their work, for outlets based in the United States and overseas, reaches a global audience.

About the President’s Award for Exceptional Service to the White House Correspondents’ Association.

The award was created in 2014 and given to George Condon with the unanimous support of the board in honor of his work on the history of the association.

It was given a second time in 2018, and presented to Martha Joynt Kumar, with the unanimous support of the board, in recognition of her scholarly research on presidential interactions with the press, a resource she selflessly shared with members of the press corps and with the association in aid of its work for access.

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For more information, contact Executive Director Steve Thomma at director@whca.press

The White House Correspondents’ Association announced today that Saturday Night Live ‘Weekend Update’ Co-Anchor Colin Jost will be the featured entertainer at its annual dinner on Saturday, April 27 in Washington, D.C.

“Colin Jost knows how to make Saturday nights funny, and I am thrilled Colin will be live from the nation’s capital as the headline entertainer for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” said Kelly O’Donnell, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and NBC News Senior White House Correspondent.

Jost is a writer, performer and author. He started writing for SNL in 2005 and has been the co-anchor of the show’s ‘Weekend Update’ since 2014.

In 2016, Jost and Co-Anchor Michael Che hosted special editions of “Weekend Update” on MSNBC during the 2016 Republican and Democratic National Conventions as well as the primetime “Weekend Update Summer Edition” in 2017. 

He has been recognized with five Writers Guild Awards, two Peabody Awards and has been nominated for 14 Emmy Awards for his writing on SNL. He also has written a New York Times best-selling memoir, “A Very Punchable Face.”

“His sharp insights perfectly meet this remarkable time of divided politics, and a presidential campaign careening toward a rematch. His smart brand of comedy and keen observation will turn up the heat on the national news media and across the political spectrum. A night of laughs and reflections as our dinner honors freedom of the press as a cornerstone of American democracy. I am beyond excited to welcome one of NBC’s brightest stars to one of Washington’s greatest traditions,” O’Donnell added.

The WHCA dinner is traditionally attended by the President and First Lady as well as senior government officials and members of the press corps. Proceeds from the dinner help finance all the WHCA’s work, including awards recognizing excellence in the profession and scholarships for journalism students, awarded with the hope of building a next generation of White House journalists who reflect America.

About the WHCA

The WHCA comprises hundreds of members from the worlds of print, television, radio and online journalism. Their work, for outlets based in the United States and overseas, reaches a global audience.

Since its founding in 1914, the association works to ensure that the journalists who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President. That includes everything from advocating for access and managing the pools of reporters who stay close to the president to logistics for the press corps following the president around the world.

More About Colin Jost 

Jost started in journalism as a reporter and editor for the Staten Island Advance newspaper, a writer for the Harvard Crimson, president of the Harvard Lampoon and editor-in-chief of The Owl.

In 2020, Jost debuted “A Very Punchable Face,” a New York Times bestseller about growing up in a family of firefighters on Staten Island, learning to speak at the age of four, commuting three hours a day to high school, living in Russia during Putin’s first term and fighting in WrestleMania. It was a finalist for the Goodreads Book of the Year and won an Audie Award for Best Audio Book.

Jost also has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

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For more information about the WHCA dinner, contact WHCA Executive Director Steve Thomma at director@whca.press.

The WHCA co-sponsored an event with the National Geographic surrounding its new documentary on the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

WHCA President Kelly O’Donnell opened the evening with a video greeting from Clint Hill, one of the Secret Service agents who was in the motorcade in Dallas.

After a screening of one of three parts of the documentary, O’Donnell moderated a panel discussion including former Associated Press reporter Peggy Simpson, who helped cover the events of Nov. 22, 1963 and was in the police station when assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was himself gunned down.

The limited series premieres Nov. 5 at 8/7c on National Geographic with three back-to-back episodes and streams on Disney+ and Hulu on Nov. 6.

Click here to see the discussion.

The White House Correspondents’ Association at its annual dinner April 29 honored two legendary and deeply missed journalists – the late Gwen Ifill of the PBS NewsHour and Washington Week and the late Bill Plante of CBS News.

The WHCA honored their memories with the Dunnigan-Payne Prize, name for two trailblazing women journalists.

Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News, the WHCA’s vice president, presented medallions to family members Bert Ifill and Chris Plante, and recalled her own relationships with the late journalists.

“Gwen and I were colleagues at NBC back in the 90s. I didn’t know her well then, as I was visiting DC covering my first presidential race. I casually shared that I didn’t really get why a campaign made certain behind the scenes moves. As Gwen headed to her car, she stopped, turned around, and offered up her experienced and smart take on what was really going on,” O’Donnell said.

“That helped me in the moment but she gave me something bigger. She showed me that real pros… stop, turn around and help out. Her example made me want to be that kind of colleague. Thank you Gwen.

“And Bill, more than 50 years at CBS, was a master of the shouted question at the White House. Many of us also knew Bill’s gift for making presidential trips real life memories by finding time to experience the flavor of places we visited. Around the world, he would select a perfect restaurant, the right bottle of wine and bring together a group of us to hear his stories and share our own. A rooftop in Vietnam hearing about his war coverage was exceptional. He encouraged us to savor the journey of this job. Thank you Bill.”

The medallions were presented to Bill’s son Chris Plante and Gwen’s brother Bert Ifill.

About the award

The Dunnigan-Payne Prize was created in 2022 to raise up the achievements of Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne, the first two African American women to serve as members of the White House press corps. In the prize’s inaugural year, Ms. Dunnigan and Ms. Payne were the initial recipients of this award that will carry their names to honor the career achievements of White House correspondents.

William “Bill” Plante was one of the longest serving White House broadcast journalists in history, working on the beat for 35 years covering the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He served as WHCA president from 1986-87. He was beloved in the press corps for his kindness, but didn’t pull punches with the politicians he covered. He used his recognizable baritone voice to lob questions, even when the White House wished he wouldn’t.

“Our asking questions should not be dependent on what the White House thinks the mood or the tone of an event should be,” Plante said in 2007. “And the fact that they say ‘no questions’ or don’t allow time for questions really has nothing to do with it. They don’t have to answer, but I think we need to preserve and aggressively push our right to ask.”

About the honorees

In addition to his long career covering the White House, Plante also covered the State Department and had served four tours covering the war in Vietnam, including the fall of Saigon and Cambodia, the civil rights movement and all the presidential elections from 1968 to 2016.  His remarkable tenure at CBS News spanned 52 years.

Gwen Ifill, PBS NewsHour and Washington Week

Gwen Ifill was a groundbreaking journalist who covered eight presidential campaigns, moderated two vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008 and in 2016, while battling cancer, moderated a Democratic primary debate. She was a co-anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour and moderator and managing editor of Washington Week on PBS. She joined the network in 1999 to helm Washington Week, becoming the first African American woman to host a nationally televised public affairs program. At that time, she also joined the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as a senior correspondent, again making history in 2013 alongside Woodruff as the first female anchor team for a national evening newscast.

Ifill covered the White House for the New York Times from 1991-1994 and moved to broadcasting at NBC News covering politics and Capitol Hill from 1994-1999. She began her reporting career with the Boston Herald, followed by assignments with the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Washington Post.