White House Correspondents' Association (Redirected from White House Correspondents' Association Dinner)
Abbreviation | WHCA |
---|---|
Formation | February 25, 1914 |
52-0799067 | |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization |
Location | |
Coordinates | 38°53′52″N 77°03′18″W / 38.89778°N 77.05500°W |
Tamara Keith (NPR News) | |
Steven Thomma | |
Revenue (2015) | $366,481 |
Expenses (2015) | $311,090 |
Employees (2015) | 0 |
Website | www |
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson.
The WHCA operates independently of the White House. Among the more notable issues handled by the WHCA are the credentialing process, access to the president and physical conditions in the White House press briefing rooms. Its most high-profile activity is the annual White House Correspondents' dinner, which is traditionally attended by the president and covered by the news media. Except for Donald Trump, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924.
Association leadership, 2022-2023
The leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association includes:
- Officers
- President: Tamara Keith, NPR
- Vice President: Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News
- Treasurer: Eugene Daniel, Politico
- Board members
- Todd J. Gillman, The Dallas Morning News
- Doug Mills, The New York Times
- Justin Sink, Bloomberg News
- Karen Travers, ABC News
- Sara Cook, CBS News
- Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News
- Executive Director
- Steven Thomma
Association presidents
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White House press room
The WHCA is responsible for assigned seating in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House.
White House Correspondents' dinner
The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1921, has become a Washington, D.C. tradition, and is traditionally attended by the president and vice president. Except for Donald Trump, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.
Until 1962, the dinner was open only to men, even though WHCA's membership included women. At the urging of Helen Thomas, President John F. Kennedy refused to attend the dinner unless the ban on women was dropped.
Prior to World War II, the annual dinner featured singing between courses, a homemade movie, and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers. Since 1983, the featured speaker has usually been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a comedy roast of the president and his administration.
The dinner also funds scholarships for gifted students in college journalism programs.
Many annual dinners have been cancelled or downsized due to deaths or political crises. The dinner was cancelled in 1930 due to the death of former president William Howard Taft; in 1942, following the United States' entry into World War II; and in 1951, over what President Harry S. Truman called the "uncertainty of the world situation." In 1981, Ronald Reagan did not attend because he was recuperating after the attempted assassination the previous month, but he did phone in and told a joke about the shooting.
During his presidency, Donald Trump did not attend the dinners in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Trump indicated that he might attend in 2019 since this dinner did not feature a comedian as the featured speaker. However, on April 5, 2019, he announced that he again would not attend, calling the dinner "so boring, and so negative," instead hosting a political rally that evening in Wisconsin. On April 22, Trump ordered a boycott of the dinner, with White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley assembling the agencies' chiefs of staff to issue a directive that members of the administration not attend. However, some members of the administration attended pre- and post-dinner parties.
Dinner criticisms
The WHCD has been increasingly criticized as an example of the coziness between the White House press corps and the administration. The dinner has typically included a skit, either live or videotaped, by the sitting U.S. president in which he mocks himself, for the amusement of the press corps. The press corps, in turn, hobnobs with administration officials, even those who are unpopular and are not regularly cooperative with the press. Increasing scrutiny by bloggers has contributed to added public focus on this friendliness.
After the 2007 dinner, New York Times columnist Frank Rich implied that the Times would no longer participate in the dinners. Rich wrote that the dinner had become "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era" because it "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows".
Other criticism has focused on the amount of money actually raised for scholarships, which has decreased over the past few years.
The dinners have drawn increasing public attention, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood". The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation". This has led to an atmosphere of coming to the event only to "see and be seen". This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves.
The public airings of the controversies around the dinner from the mid-2000s onward gradually focused concern about the nature of the event. While interest in the event from entertainers, journalists, and political figures was high during the Obama administration, by the period of the Trump administration, interest gradually slowed in attending, especially after President Trump announced he would not attend, nor his staff. Business related to the weekend event slowed considerably, including at hotels, high-end restaurants, salons, caterers, and limo companies. During the Trump administration, some media companies stopped hosting parties, while other of the roughly 25 events held during the three-day period gained more prominence as signs of social status. By 2019, the dinner and associated parties had returned somewhat to their previous nature as networking and media functions, with packed houses of media industry employees and Washington political figures.
After the April 30, 2022 dinner, where comedian Trevor Noah joked it would be "the nation's most distinguished superspreader event," several attendees including Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for COVID-19. No cases of serious illness were reported as a result of the dinner.
List of dinners
Date | Performer(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|
May 7, 1921 | ||
May 3, 1924 | President Coolidge becomes the first President to attend the dinner | |
March 15, 1941 | ||
March 14, 1942[citation needed] | ||
February 12, 1943 | ||
March 4, 1944 | Bob Hope, Fritz Kreisler, Gracie Fields, Pedro Vargas, Fred Waring, Elsie Janis, Ed Gardner, Nan Merriman, Robert Merrill, and Frank Black | |
April 28, 1945[citation needed] | Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Fanny Brice, Danny Kaye, and Garry Moore | |
March 23, 1946[citation needed] | Ed Sullivan (host); featured performers included Herb Shriner, Señor Wences, Paul Draper, Larry Adler, and Sugar Chile Robinson. | |
March 6, 1948 | Spike Jones | |
March 14, 1949 | ||
May 1953 | Bob Hope | |
1954 | Milton Berle, The Four Step Brothers, Jaye P. Morgan, The McGuire Sisters, and Irving Berlin performed. | Berlin performed an original song, "I Still Like Ike," to honor President Eisenhower. |
March 1955 | Duke Ellington, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Channing Pollock | |
May 1956 | James Cagney emceed; Nat King Cole, Patti Page, and Dizzy Gillespie performed. | |
October 12, 1959[citation needed] | ||
February 25, 1961 | The Peiro Brothers (jugglers), Julie London, Dorothy Provine, Mischa Elman, and Jerome Hines | |
April 27, 1962 | Peter Sellers, Gwen Verdon, Richard Goodman, and Benny Goodman shared hosting duties. | Event opened to female correspondents for the first time. |
May 24, 1963 | Merv Griffin emceed; Barbra Streisand performed. | |
May 21, 1964 | Duke Ellington, the Smothers Brothers | |
May 11, 1968 | Richard Pryor | |
May 3, 1969 | The Disneyland Golden Horseshoe Revue | |
May 2, 1970[citation needed] | George Carlin | |
May 8, 1971 | President Nixon was in attendance; he later described the dinner as "probably the worst of this type that I have attended," and called the attendees "a drunken group; crude, and terribly cruel." | |
1972 | President Nixon declined to attend and sent his wife, Pat Nixon, in his place. | |
April 14, 1973 | Held in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel | |
May 4, 1974 | Nixon again declined to attend; Vice President Ford came in his place. | |
May 3, 1975 | Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas | |
May 1, 1976 | Bob Hope emceed and Chevy Chase performed. | When President Ford rose to speak, he pretended to fumble, and began his speech with "Good evening. I'm Gerald Ford and you're not"—a reference to Chase's catchphrase from Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. |
April 30, 1977 | ||
April 29, 1978 | President Carter declined to attend, sending press secretary Jody Powell in his place. | |
April 28, 1979 | ||
May 3, 1980 | ||
April 25, 1981 | ||
April 24, 1982 | ||
April 23, 1983 | Mark Russell | Russell's stand-up bits replaces the traditional cabaret |
April 13, 1984 | Rich Little | |
April 27, 1985 | Mort Sahl | |
April 17, 1986 | Dick Cavett | |
April 22, 1987 | Jay Leno | |
April 21, 1988 | Yakov Smirnoff | |
April 29, 1989 | Jim Morris (Bush impersonator) | Garry Shandling made a surprise appearance. |
April 28, 1990 | Jim Morris | |
May 4, 1991[citation needed] | Sinbad | |
May 8, 1992 | Paula Poundstone | Poundstone was the first solo female host. |
May 1, 1993 | Elayne Boosler | This was the first year that the dinner was televised on C-SPAN. |
April 23, 1994 | Al Franken | |
April 29, 1995 | Conan O'Brien | |
May 4, 1996 | Al Franken | |
April 26, 1997 | Jon Stewart | Norm Macdonald delivered a Weekend Update parody. |
April 25, 1998 | Ray Romano | |
May 1, 1999 | Aretha Franklin | A non-comedian was chosen to host because of the recent impeachment of President Clinton. NBC's Brian Williams performed a skit. |
April 29, 2000 | Jay Leno | President Bill Clinton also mocked himself in the short film President Clinton: The Final Days, which depicted him as a lonely man closing down a nearly deserted White House, riding a bicycle, and learning about the Internet with the help of actor Mike Maronna. |
April 28, 2001 | Darrell Hammond | |
May 4, 2002 | Drew Carey | |
April 26, 2003 | Ray Charles | President George W. Bush decided to eschew a comedian that year, given the recent invasion of Iraq. |
May 1, 2004 | Jay Leno | |
April 30, 2005 | Cedric the Entertainer | First Lady Laura Bush also performed some jokes. |
April 29, 2006 | Stephen Colbert | Wikinews has related news:
|
April 21, 2007 | Rich Little | David Letterman appeared by video with a Top 10 list of "favorite George W. Bush moments". |
April 26, 2008 | Craig Ferguson | Like his Late Late Show monologues, Ferguson appeared to go off script and started improvising new jokes. It was noted that President Bush had difficulty understanding Ferguson's Scottish accent. |
May 9, 2009 | Wanda Sykes | |
May 1, 2010 | Jay Leno | Leno hosted for the fourth time, more than any other individual in the dinner's history. Leno had been chosen several weeks before his controversial Tonight Show conflict, and his use of recycled jokes was noted by critics. |
April 30, 2011 | Seth Meyers | Both President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were seen laughing at Meyers' jokes about the government's apparent inability to track down Osama bin Laden, even though they were a day away from the operation to assassinate him.President Obama and Meyers also mocked then-Celebrity Apprentice host Donald Trump's role as the face of the birther movement. Trump (who was present at the dinner) would go on to be elected President of the United States five years later in the 2016 United States presidential election. Journalists that were present at the dinner say that being mocked by President Obama and Meyers led him to decide to run for President of the United States, but Trump would later deny this, saying that he had been considering a run for the Presidency for many years prior to the dinner. |
April 28, 2012 | Jimmy Kimmel | |
April 27, 2013 | Conan O'Brien | |
May 3, 2014 | Joel McHale | |
April 25, 2015 | Cecily Strong | Keegan-Michael Key made a guest appearance as President Obama's "anger translator", Luther, a recurring character from the Comedy Central show Key & Peele. |
April 30, 2016 | Larry Wilmore | Wilmore delivered a controversial, searing routine targeting the president, elite media, lobbyists, politicians, and celebrities. At the end of the speech, Wilmore ended his set by thanking President Obama for having been the country's first black President and finished his speech by calling him "my nigga" on live television. This remark sparked controversy among the media, with some calling it disrespectful. |
April 29, 2017 | Hasan Minhaj | President Donald Trump did not attend the dinner. The last time a sitting president did not attend in person was Ronald Reagan in 1981, who was recovering from an assassination attempt.The Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein presented awards and spoke about the importance of the First Amendment. |
April 28, 2018 | Michelle Wolf | President Trump did not attend the dinner for the second consecutive year. Instead, he sent his press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.Several attendees walked out in reaction to Wolf's "brutal" comments.Wolf received both praise and criticism for her monologue. The association released a rare statement regarding the monologue. After the dinner, newspaper The Hill informed the WHCA that it would no longer participate in the event, saying, "In short, there's simply no reason for us to participate in something that casts our profession in a poor light. Major changes are needed to the annual event." |
April 27, 2019 | Ron Chernow | President Trump did not attend the dinner for the third consecutive year. Additionally, Trump ordered some of his staff and administration members to boycott the dinner.
The WHCA chose historian Ron Chernow as the featured speaker instead of a comedian after Wolf's controversial set. |
2020 | — | The dinner was originally scheduled for April 25, 2020, with comedian Kenan Thompson hosting and political entertainer and former WHCD host Hasan Minhaj as the featured entertainment. On March 22 the dinner was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, without naming a substitute date. On April 13 a new date of August 29 was announced.On June 23 WHCA President Jonathan Karl announced that the dinner itself would be canceled, but that the WHCA was working on a virtual presentation format to honor award winners and scholarship recipients. On August 14 Hasan Minhaj spoke privately via Zoom with the WHCA 2020 scholarship recipients, who also attended a private online panel discussion by three veteran Washington political reporters that day. |
2021 | — | On April 14, 2021, WHCA executive director Steven Thomma announced that improvements in the pandemic situation had not been sufficient to allow the association to proceed with a large indoor event, and that no dinner would be held in 2021. However, the association still intended to select recipients for its annual journalism awards and student scholarships, and announced that it planned to go ahead with the dinner the following year, on April 30, 2022. |
April 30, 2022 | Trevor Noah | The dinner was held in person for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Joe Biden attended the dinner, making him the first president to attend the dinner since Trump boycotted the event throughout his presidency. |
April 29, 2023 | Roy Wood Jr. |
Gallery
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President Gerald Ford (left) with White House Correspondent Helen Thomas at the 1975 Dinner.
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President Bill Clinton (right) with television actor Mike Maronna (left) celebrating a successful online purchase in a comedic short film recorded for the 2000 Dinner.
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President George W. Bush (left) with Bush impersonator Steve Bridges in character (right) at the 2006 Dinner.
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President Barack Obama ending his final Correspondents' Dinner speech with a mic drop at the 2016 Dinner.
Awards
- Note: Award years represent the date the work was published/broadcast, which is always one year before the prize was awarded.
The Aldo Beckman Memorial Award
Established in 1981 in memory of Aldo Beckman (1934–1980), the "late Chicago Tribune Washington bureau chief, a past president of the association.... Given annually to a Washington reporter 'who personifies the journalistic excellence as well as the personal qualities exemplified by Mr. Beckman, an award-winning White House correspondent.'" Awarded for overall excellence in White House coverage.
Year | Recipient | Employer | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | Helen Thomas | UPI | |
1982 | Rich Jaroslovsky | The Wall Street Journal | [citation needed] |
1983 | Lou Cannon | The Washington Post | |
1984 | David Hoffman | The Washington Post | |
1985 | Robert Timberg | The Baltimore Sun | |
1986 | W. Dale Nelson | Associated Press | |
1987 | Gerald F. Seib | The Wall Street Journal | |
1988 | |||
1989 | Ann Devroy | The Washington Post | |
1990 | Kenneth T. Walsh | U.S. News & World Report | |
1991 | Timothy J. McNulty | Chicago Tribune | |
1992 | Thomas DeFrank | Newsweek | |
1993 | Jeffrey Birnbaum | The Wall Street Journal | |
1994 | Kathy Lewis | The Dallas Morning News | |
1995 | John A. Farrell | The Boston Globe | |
1996 | Todd Purdum | The New York Times | |
1997 | Michael K. Frisby | The Wall Street Journal | |
1998 | John Harris | The Washington Post | |
1999 | Jeanne Cummings | The Wall Street Journal | |
2000 | Steve Thomma | Knight Ridder | |
2001 | Anne E. Kornblut | The Boston Globe | |
2002 | Dana Milbank | The Washington Post | |
2003 | David Sanger | The New York Times | |
2004 | Susan Page | USA Today | |
2005 | Carl Cannon | National Journal | |
2006 | Kenneth T. Walsh | U.S. News & World Report | |
2007 | Alexis Simendinger | National Journal | |
2008 | Michael Abramowitz | The Washington Post | |
2009 | Mark Knoller | CBS News | |
2010 | Peter Baker | The New York Times | |
2011 | Scott Wilson | The Washington Post | |
2012 | Ryan Lizza | The New Yorker | |
2013 | Glenn Thrush | Politico | |
Brianna Keilar | CNN | ||
2014 | Peter Baker | The New York Times | |
2015 | Carol Lee | The Wall Street Journal | |
2016 | Greg Jaffe | The Washington Post | |
2017 | Maggie Haberman | The New York Times | |
2018 | McKay Coppins | The Atlantic | |
2019 | Yamiche Alcindor | PBS NewsHour | |
2020 | Philip Rucker | The Washington Post | |
2021 | Jonathan Swan | Axios | |
2022 | Matt Viser | The Washington Post |
Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure
The award was established in 1970 as the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for outstanding examples of deadline reporting. (Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1970.) The award was renamed in 2022 after the WHCA determined that Smith had supported excluding Black and female journalists from membership in the National Press Club and from attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Year | Recipient | Category | Employer | Article / Show | Notes & Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | |||||
1971 | |||||
1972 | |||||
1973 | |||||
1974 | Douglas C. Wilson | The Providence Journal | Resignation of President Nixon | ||
1975 | Aldo Beckman | Chicago Tribune | "Sarah Jane Moore's assassination attempt on President Ford" | ||
1976 | |||||
1977 | Michael J. Sniffen and Richard E. Meyer | AP | Bert Lance used the same stock as collateral for two different loans. | ||
1978 | Edward Walsh | The Camp David Summit Conference | |||
1979 | |||||
1980 | John Palmer | Broadcast | NBC News | "...the failed attempt by President Jimmy Carter’s administration to rescue the American hostages in Iran." | |
Lars-Erik Nelson and Frank Van Riper | New York Daily News | "deadline coverage of the negotiations to free American hostages held in Iran during the Carter administration." | |||
1981 | |||||
1982 | |||||
1983 | Staff | Newsweek | "Coverage of the bombing of Marine headquarters in Lebanon" | ||
1984 | David Hoffman | The Washington Post | "President Reagan's blaming a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut on the 'near destruction' of U.S. intelligence during the Carter administration." | ||
1985 | |||||
1986 | Owen Ullmann | Knight Ridder | "The Reykjavík Summit" | ||
1987 | Gerald F. Seib | The Wall Street Journal | |||
1988 | |||||
1989 | Norman D. Sandler | UPI | |||
1990 | Steve Taylor | Broadcast | Unistar Radio Networks | "President Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia." | |
Norman D. Sandler | UPI | "1990 Helsinki summit" | |||
1991 | Susan Page | Newsday | Gulf War | ||
1992 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | Mutual-NBC Radio | Live coverage of President George Bush's collapse at an official dinner in Tokyo | |
David Espo | AP | Deadline reporting on Election Day 1992 | |||
1993 | Mara Liasson | Broadcast | National Public Radio | ||
Terrence Hunt | Associated Press | ||||
1994 | Mara Liasson | Broadcast | NPR | ||
William Neikirk | Chicago Tribune | ||||
1995 | Mark Knoller | Broadcast | CBS News | "Writing and broadcasting multiple breaking stories ... about a White House intruder." | |
Peter Maer | Mutual/NBC Radio | "Outstanding broadcast of President Clinton's attendance at the funeral of the Israeli Prime Minister." | |||
Susan Cornwell | Reuters America | President Clinton and taxes: "For getting a scoop from an on-the-record presidential speech.... Cornwell's entry was the only one that caused second-day stories (and more) to be written. It not only covered news; it created news." | |||
1996 | Mara Liasson | Broadcast | National Public Radio | "Spot news coverage of the 1996 election campaign"; "she found time to ... deliver an insightful audio portrait of a small California town that President Clinton visited last October." | |
Ron Fournier | Associated Press | "An exclusive on President Clinton's new cabinet choices for the second term." | |||
1997 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | NBC Radio/Mutual News | "Evocative radio account of President Clinton's visit to Little Rock Central High School, 40 years after the school was integrated." | |
Ron Fournier | Associated Press | "President Clinton's knee injury that sent him to the hospital in the middle of the night." | |||
1998 | Jodi Enda | Knight Ridder | "President Clinton's meeting with survivors of genocide in Rwanda...." | ||
1999 | Gary Nurenberg | Broadcast | KTLA-TV, Tribune Broadcasting | "Monica Lewinsky Deposed" | |
Jodi Enda | Knight Ridder Newspapers | "A poignant story about an emotional day in Kosovo." | |||
2000 | Jim Angle | Broadcast | Fox News Channel | ||
Sandra Sobieraj | Associated Press | ||||
2001 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | CBS News | ||
Ron Fournier | Associated Press | ||||
2002 | Jim Angle | Broadcast | Fox News Channel | ||
David Sanger | The New York Times | ||||
2003 | Mike Allen | The Washington Post | |||
2004 | Ron Fournier | Associated Press | |||
Jackie Calmes | The Wall Street Journal | Honorable Mention | |||
2005 | Terry Moran | Broadcast | ABC News | ||
Deb Riechmann | Associated Press | ||||
2006 | Martha Raddatz | Broadcast | ABC News | ||
David Sanger | The New York Times | ||||
2007 | Ed Henry | Broadcast | CNN | ||
Deb Riechmann | Associated Press | ||||
2008 | David Greene | Broadcast | NPR | ||
Sandra Sobieraj Westfall | People magazine | ||||
2009 | Jake Tapper | Broadcast | ABC News | ||
Ben Feller | Associated Press | ||||
2010 | Jake Tapper | Broadcast | ABC News | ||
Dan Balz | The Washington Post | ||||
2011 | Jake Tapper | Broadcast | ABC News | Reporting that "Standard & Poor was on the verge of downgrading America's triple-A credit rating because of concerns over political gridlock in Washington" | |
Glenn Thrush, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan | Politico | "The deal between Barack Obama and congressional Republicans to raise the U.S. debt ceiling." | |||
2012 | Terry Moran | Broadcast | ABC News | On-air interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling of Obama's Health Care Reform Law | |
Julie Pace | Associated Press | 2012 Obama campaign's get-out-the-vote strategy | |||
2013 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | CBS News | "Sequestration" | |
Peter Baker | The New York Times | "Obama Seeks Approval by Congress for Strike in Syria" | |||
2014 | Jim Avila | Broadcast | ABC News | Cuba/Alan Gross | |
Josh Lederman | Associated Press | Fence Jumper | |||
2015 | Norah O'Donnell | Broadcast | CBS News | "60 Minutes interview with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden on his decision not to run for president" in 2016. | |
Matt Viser | The Boston Globe | "An Inside Look at How the Iran Talks Unfolded" | |||
2016 | Edward-Isaac Dovere | Politico | "How Obama set a trap for Raul Castro" | ||
2017 | Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto, Jake Tapper and Carl Bernstein | Broadcast | CNN | Intelligence community's briefing of Obama and Trump "that Russia had compromising information about Trump." | |
Josh Dawsey | Politico | "Resignation of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer" | |||
2018 | Ed Henry | Broadcast | Fox News | Interview with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt | |
Josh Dawsey | Washington Post | ||||
2019 | Alan Cullison, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Dustin Volz | The Wall Street Journal | "Trump Repeatedly Pressed Ukraine to Investigate Biden's Son" | ||
Broadcast | CNN | "FBI. Open the door." | |||
2020 | Michael Balsamo | Associated Press | "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud" | ||
Jonathan Karl | Broadcast | ABC News | Trump getting COVID and being rushed to the hospital | ||
2021 | Zeke Miller and Mike Balsamo | Associated Press | CDC mask order | ||
Jonathan Karl | Broadcast | ABC News | January 6 United States Capitol attack coverage | ||
2022 | Jeff Mason | Reuters | "Exclusive: Biden to waive tariffs for 24 months on solar panels hit by probe" | ||
Phil Mattingly | Broadcast | CNN | Zelensky's White House visit |
Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability
A $10,000 prize to "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. Debuted in 2020.
Year | Recipient | Employer | Article / Show | Notes & Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | ProPublica | "Death in the Pacific" | ||
2020 | The Marshall Project, AL.com, the IndyStar, and Invisible Institute | "Mauled: When Police Dogs are Weapons" | ||
2021 | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Washington Post, "and media partners around the world" | Pandora Papers | ||
2022 | Josh Gerstein and Alex Ward | Politico | Decision "to report, verify and publish the draft Supreme Court opinion reversing abortion rights – and the organization’s follow-up work exploring the consequences of the decision...." |
Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists
$1,000 "award recognizes a video or photojournalist for uniquely covering the presidency from a journalistic standpoint, either at the White House or in the field. This could be breaking news, a scheduled event or feature coverage." Debuted in 2020.
Year | Recipient | Employer | Work | Notes & Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Doug Mills | The New York Times | "The Pelosi Clap" | |
2020 | Win McNamee | Getty Images | Trump and Fauci | |
2021 | Brendan Smialowski | Agence France-Presse | "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wait for a meeting at Villa La Grange June 16, 2021, in Geneva." | |
2022 | Doug Mills | The New York Times | "President Joe Biden walks between the Marine Honor Guard as he enters an event to celebrate the passage of H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022." |
Discontinued awards
The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award
Named in honor of the distinguished correspondent Edgar Allen Poe (1906–1998), a former WHCA president unrelated to the American fiction writer of the nearly identical name. Funded by the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Newhouse Newspapers, the award honored excellence in news coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance to the American people. The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award was presented from 1990 to 2019, when it was replaced by the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability and the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists.
Year | Recipient | Employer | Article / Show | Notes & Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | Keith Epstein | The Plain Dealer | ||
1990 | Rochelle Sharpe and Marjie Lundstrom | Gannett News Service | "A series of reports ... on child abuse." | |
1991 | Stewart M. Powell and Charles J. Lewis | Hearst Newspapers | "A three-part series detailing the magnitude and human impact of the war's friendly fire casualties and chronicling the anguish of the families involved." | |
1992 | Chris Drew and Mick Tackett | Chicago Tribune | "A series of articles on lobbying... [and] how the system functions." | |
1993 | Richard Whittle | The Dallas Morning News | ||
1994 | Russell Carollo and Cheryl Reed | Dayton Daily News | ||
1995 | Joby Warrick and Pat Stith | The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) | "'The Power of Pork,' their well-researched series on the pork farming business..." | |
1996 | Byron Acohido | The Seattle Times | "Safety at Issue: The 737", "ferreting out compelling evidence that undoubtedly contributed as much as anything else to safety improvements in the world's most popular aircraft." | |
1997 | Earl Lane and Andrew Smith | Newsday | Their series "The Leftovers of the Nuclear Age." | |
1998 | Michael Isikoff | Newsweek | "Clinton–Lewinsky scandal" | |
1999 | Sam Roe | The Toledo Blade | "Exposing a major health risk to nuclear weapons plant workers that was concealed by the U.S. government for half a century." | |
2000 | Elizabeth Marchak, Dave Davis, and Joan Mazzolini | The Plain Dealer | ||
John Barry and Evan Thomas | Newsweek | Honorable Mention | ||
David Pace | Associated Press | Honorable Mention | ||
2001 | Evan Thomas, Mark Hosenball, Martha Brant, and Roy Gutman | Newsweek | ||
Staff | The Seattle Times | Honorable Mention | ||
Staff | The Dayton Daily News | Honorable Mention | ||
2002 | Sean Naylor | Army Times | ||
Staff | South Florida Sun-Sentinel | Honorable Mention | ||
Michael Berens | Chicago Tribune | Honorable Mention | ||
2003 | Russell Corollo and Mei-ling Hopgood | Dayton Daily News | ||
Christopher H. Schmitt and Edward T. Pound | U.S. News & World Report | Honorable Mention | ||
Michael Hudson | Southern Exposure magazine | Honorable Mention | ||
Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landy | Knight Ridder | Honorable Mention | ||
Rod Nordland and Michael Hirsh | Newsweek | Honorable Mention | ||
Sami Yousafzai, Ron Moreau, and Michael Hirsh | Newsweek | Honorable Mention | ||
Fareed Zakaria | Newsweek | Honorable Mention | ||
2004 | Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams | The San Francisco Chronicle | ||
Donald Barlett and James Steele | Time magazine | Honorable Mention | ||
2005 | Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer | Copley News Service | ||
Staff | Time magazine | Honorable Mention | ||
Russell Carollo and Larry Kaplow | Dayton Daily News | Honorable Mention | ||
2006 | Joan Ryan | The San Francisco Chronicle | ||
2007 | Paul Shukovsky, Tracy Johnson, and Daniel Lathrop | Seattle Post-Intelligencer | ||
2008 | Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong | The Seattle Times | ||
2009 | Suzanne Bohan and Sandy Kleffman | Contra Costa Times, California | ||
2010 | Michael Berens | The Seattle Times | ||
2011 | Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan, Chris Hawley | Associated Press | ||
2012 | Jim Morris, Chris Hamby, Ronnie Greene | The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) | Hard Labor | |
2013 | Megan Twohey | Reuters | "The Child Exchange: Inside America's Underground Market for Adopted Children," | |
Chris Hamby, Matthew Mosk, and Brian Ross | The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and ABC News | "Breathless and Burdened: Dying from black lung, buried by law and medicine," | ||
2014 | Gary Fields, John R. Emshwiller, Rob Barry, and Coulter Jones | The Wall Street Journal | "America's Rap Sheet" | |
Carol D. Leonnig | The Washington Post | "Secret Service" | ||
2015 | Neela Banerjee, John Cushman Jr., David Hasemyer, and Lisa Song | Inside Climate News | ||
Terrence McCoy | The Washington Post | |||
2016 | David Fahrenthold | The Washington Post | ||
2017 | Jason Szep, Peter Eisler, Tim Reid, Lisa Girion, Grant Smith and team | Reuters | "Shock Tactics" | |
Norah O'Donnell | CBS This Morning | Sexual Assault in the Air Force Academy | Honorable Mention | |
Dan Diamond and Rachana Pradhan | Politico | Tom Price's Private Jet Travel | Honorable Mention | |
2018 | Joshua Schneyer, Michael Pell, Andrea Januta, and Deborah Nelson | Reuters | "Ambushed at Home" |
Raymond Clapper Memorial Award
Named in honor of Raymond Clapper (1892-1944) and given "to a journalist or team for distinguished Washington reporting." The award was presented from 1944 to 2003, usually at the WHCA dinner (although in the period 1951–1965 it was presented at the American Society of News Editors annual dinner).
In 2004, the award passed to the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards. Under Scripps Howard, the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award was presented until 2011, at which point it was discontinued.
See also
- Gridiron Club
- Radio and Television Correspondents' Association
- Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner
- Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner
- National Press Club
- Parliamentary Press Gallery
- List of dining events
Notes
- ^ At the start of his 2007 dinner speech, Little stated that he had previously hosted in 1984, but "had to wait until everybody died" before he was invited back.