WASHINGTON – The National Press Foundation has announced the winners of its 2001 awards, among the most prestigious in journalism. Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, will receive the Taishoff Broadcaster of the Year Award.
Paul E. Steiger, managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, will receive the George Beveridge Editor of the Year Award. Katharine Graham, the late publisher of The Washington Post, will posthumously receive the W.M. Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Award. Rex Babin, editorial cartoonist of the Sacramento Bee, will receive the Berryman Cartoonist of the Year award. The announcements were made Saturday by Robin V. Sproul, Washington bureau chief for ABC News, chairman of the foundation.
Also, the Everett McKinley Dirksen Awards for Distinguished Coverage of Congress will be given to Jonathan Karl of CNN, and Jill Zuckman, chief Congressional correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. The Chairman’s Citation for Overall Excellence in Journalism will be given to The New York Times for its coverage of the events on and after September 11. The foundation’s second annual award for Online Journalism will be presented to VillageVoice.Com.
The awards will be presented Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 at the Washington Hilton Hotel, during the National Press Foundation’s 19th Annual Awards Dinner, a black-tie fund-raising event that honors excellence in American journalism and provides fellowships for NPF’s issue-oriented programs. More than 1,100 people attended last year’s dinner. Tables sell for $3,000, $6,000 and $10,000.
The awards were made by committees chaired by NPF board members, as follows: Editor of the Year and Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism: George Condon, bureau chief, Copley News Service; Taishoff Broadcaster of the Year: Barbara Cochran, president, Radio-Television News Directors Association; Berryman Cartoonist of the Year: Geneva Overholser, Missouri School of Journalism; Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress: Cissy Baker, Tribune Broadcasting; Online Journalism Award, Robin V. Sproul, Washington bureau chief, ABC News.
Established in 1975, the National Press Foundation is one of the nation’s leading independent, non-profit organizations dedicated to the professional development of working journalists, achieved through rigorous programs it organizes in Washington and elsewhere. The Foundation also provides scholarships for journalists to attend college courses in the U.S. and Mexico, and administers other awards. The awards dinner is its largest source of unrestricted revenue.
