WASHINGTON — The White House Correspondents’ Association is pleased to announce the creation of a new award to honor in-depth investigative and accountability reporting.
The Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability will be presented for the first time at the association’s annual dinner on Saturday, April 25. The detailed Call for Entries will be posted soon.
“Katharine Graham was a towering figure in journalism who courageously supported reporters and editors in the quest to hold those in power accountable,” said Jonathan Karl, the president of the association. “I am thrilled to announce the creation of an award to recognize and honor the kind of fearless journalism Katharine Graham dedicated her life to promoting.”
The prize, approved by the WHCA board, will recognize an individual or newsgathering team for coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance in line with the human and professional qualities exemplified by the late Katharine Graham, the distinguished former publisher of The Washington Post.
The $10,000 annual prize has been endowed in perpetuity through a generous donation from Jeff Bezos to the White House Correspondents’ Association.
As is the case for all WHCA awards, an independent panel of judges will look for excellence in stories with fairness and objectivity in selecting a recipient. For the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability, special consideration will be given to reporting undertaken despite adversity.
The inaugural award will be based on a sample of journalism produced during the year ending December 31, 2019. The deadline for entries will be Monday, March 2. Submissions will be accepted at whca.press.
The new award will be one of several honoring exemplary journalism at this year’s WHCA dinner. Also to be presented:
–The Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage;
–The Merriman Smith Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure;
–The Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists
The 2020 dinner also will include the inaugural presentation of the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability, administered by the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications to recognize outstanding statehouse reporting. The deadline for submitting entries for that award is Jan. 31. Information about that award and submission information can be found here.
For more information, contact WHCA Executive Director Steve Thomma at 202-266-7453 or director@whca.press