Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award


The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered until 1967 by Washington and Lee University's O. W. Riegel, Curator and Head of the Department of Journalism and Communications. Since 1968 they have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, and are considered by some to be the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another program administered by Columbia University.
Dedicated to upholding the highest journalism standards, the duPont awards inform the public about the contributions news organizations and journalists make to their communities, support journalism education and innovation, and cultivate a collective spirit for the profession.
The duPont-Columbia Awards were established by Jessie Ball duPont in memory of her husband Alfred I. du Pont. It is the most well-respected journalism-only award for broadcast journalism; starting in 2009, it began accepting digital submissions. The duPont, along with the George Foster Peabody Awards, rank among the most prestigious awards programs in all electronic media.
The duPont-Columbia jury selects the winners from programs that air in the United States between July 1 and June 30 of each year. Award winners receive batons in gold and silver designed by the American architect Louis I. Kahn. The gold baton, when awarded, is given exclusively in honor of truly outstanding broadcast journalism.

Notable winners

In 2003, the first-ever foreign-language program was awarded a duPont-Columbia Award: CNN en Español and reporter Jorge Gestoso won a Silver Baton for investigative reporting on Argentina's desaparecidos.
In 2010, the first award for digital reporting was given to MediaStorm and photographer Jonathan Torgovnik for "Intended Consequences" about children born of rape in Rwanda.
In 2012, the first-ever theatrically released documentary film was honored by the duPont jury: the Oscar-nominated Hell and Back Again, about the war in Afghanistan and the struggles facing veterans when they return home.

Note

All winners are listed on the website of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

duPont Award

1942

1969

  • Dr. Everett C. Parker
  • KNBC-TV, Los Angeles, California, "The Slow Guillotine"
  • KQED, San Francisco, for local coverage of the 1968 political campaigns
  • National Educational Television and Public Broadcast Laboratory, ""
  • NBC News, "First Tuesday: CBW : The Secrets of Secrecy"
  • WRKL Radio, Mount Ivy-New City, NY for outstanding coverage of the 1968 political campaigns
  • WSB-TV, Atlanta, Georgia "Investigation of Organized Crime"

    1971

  • Kenneth A. Cox
  • CBS News, Ernest Leiser; Russ Bensley; John Laurence, "Charlie Company"
  • National Educational Television and Frederick Wiseman, "Hospital"
  • NBC News and Fred Freed, "White Paper: Pollution is a Matter of Choice"
  • WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, "Grunt's Little War"
  • WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, Dick Cheverton and Herb Thurman, "Our Poisoned World"

    1972

  • CBS News, John Sharnik and Eric Sevareid, "Justice in America"
  • Group W, George Moynihan and Susan Garfield, "All The Kids Like That: Tommy's Story"
  • KUTV, Salt Lake City, Richard Spratling, Diane Orr and Fred Edwards, "Warriors Without A Weapon"
  • NBC News, William B. Hill and Tom Pettit, "First Tuesday: The Man from Uncle " and "The FBI"
  • NBC News, Martin Carr, "White Paper: This Child is Rated X"
  • WABC-TV, Geraldo Rivera, "Drug Crisis in East Harlem"

    1973

  • Mike Wallace for outstanding reporting on CBS News "60 Minutes"
  • CBS News, Perry Wolff, Robert Markowitz, and Charles Kuralt, "CBS Reports:...But What If the Dream Comes True?"
  • Group W, Dick Hubert and Paul Altmeyer, "The Search for Quality Education"
  • KERA-TV, Dallas, for outstanding coverage of the 1972 political campaigns
  • National Public Affairs Center for Television, for coverage of the 1972 political campaigns
  • NBC News and Fred Freed, "White Paper: The Blue Collar Trap"
  • WABC-TV, Richard Thruston Watkins, "Like It Is: Attica -- the Unanswered Questions"
  • WNET-TV, New York, and Tony Batten, "The 51st State: Youth Gangs in the South Bronx"
  • WNJT-TV, Trenton, New Jersey, Ken Stein and John Dimmer, "Towers of Frustration: Assignment: New Jersey"
  • WTVJ-TV, Miami, "The Swift Justice of Europe" and "A Seed of Hope"

    1974

  • ABC News and Arthur Holch, "Inquiry: Chile: Experiment in Red"
  • CBS News, Irv Drasnin, "CBS News Reports: You and the Commercial"
  • Group W, Dick Hubert and Rod MacLeish "And the Rich Shall Inherit the Earth"
  • KGW-TV, Portland, Oregon, Pete Maroney, "Death of a Slideshow"
  • KNX Radio, Los Angeles, California, for editorials on important community issues
  • NBC News and Robert Northshield, "The Sins of the Fathers"
  • National Public Affairs Center for Television and Elizabeth Drew, ""
  • WBBM-TV, Chicago, Illinois, Judy Muntz, Jim Hatfield, and Lee Phillip, "The Rape of Paulette"
  • WTIC-TV, Hartford, Connecticut, Jean Sablon and Bard Davis "The Nine-Year-Old in Norfolk Prison"

    1975

  • ABC News, Av Westin, "Close-Up"
  • CBS News, Don Hewitt, 60 Minutes
  • KFWB Radio, Los Angeles, "SLA 54th Street Shootout"
  • KNXT, Los Angeles, ""
  • NBC News, Fred Freed, "The Energy Crisis"
  • NBC News, Series of Reports on Feeding the Poor
  • National Public Affairs Center for Television, "Washington Week in Review"
  • National Public Affairs Center for Television, Watergate coverage
  • WNET-TV, New York and Frederick Wiseman, "Juvenile Court"
  • TVTV and WNET, New York and David Loxton, Lord of the Universe
  • WKY-TV, Oklahoma City and Bob Dotson, "Through the Looking Glass Darkly"
  • WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, "Public Bridges and Private Riches"

    1976

  • KNBC, Burbank, California, Don Harris, "Prison Gangs"
  • NBC Nightly News and Tom Pettit for a series on feeding the poor
  • NPR, All Things Considered
  • WBTV, Charlotte, for news and documentary programming
  • WCCO, Minneapolis, Minnesota, David Moore, "Moore on Sunday"
  • WCCO Radio, Minneapolis, for news and documentary programming
  • WGBH, Boston, Roger Fisher, "Arabs and Israelis"
  • WHEC, Rochester and Warren Doremus, "The Riots Plus Ten Years"
  • WKYC, Cleveland and Brian Ross, "Teamster Power"
  • WPLG, Miami and Clarence Jones, for crime reporting

    1978

  • Group W and Paul Wilkes, "Six American Families"
  • KCET-TV, Los Angeles, ""
  • KGW-TV, Portland, "The Timber Farmers"
  • NBC News, "Human Rights: A Soviet-American Debate" and "NBC Reports: The Struggle for Freedom"
  • Walter Cronkite and the "CBS Evening News"
  • WBBM-TV, Chicago, Scott Craig and Bill Kurtis, "Once a Priest"
  • WFAA-TV, Dallas "Clear and Present Danger"
  • WNET-TV, New York and WETA-TV, Washington D.C., "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report" for "Carter's Energy Plan," "Woodward-Bernstein: Frost Interview," and "Korea and Congress: the Scandal So Far"
  • WNET-TV, New York "The Police Tapes"

    1979

  • Associated Press Radio, "The New South: Shade Behind the Sunbelt"
  • KOOL-TV, Phoenix, Burt Kennedy, "Water: Arizona's Most Precious Resource"
  • KPIX-TV, San Francisco, Robert Klein and Richard Hart, "Laser Con-Fusion"
  • National Geographic Society and WQED-TV, Pittsburgh, ""
  • NBC News, Robert Rogers and Garrick Utley, "NBC News Reports: Africa's Defiant White Tribe"
  • WBBM-TV, Chicago, Illinois, Gail Sikevitz, Scott Craig, Jim Hatfield, and Mort Crim for documentary reporting, especially "Signs of Love" and "A Matter of Policy"
  • WFAA-TV, Dallas, Texas, Byron Harris for investigative report
  • WGBH-FM, Boston, "Banned in Chelsea"
  • WGBH-TV, Boston and William Cran, "WORLD: " and John Angier, "NOVA: "
  • WMHT-TV, Schenectady, "Capital Punishment: Inside Albany"
  • WPLG-TV, Miami and Clarence Jones for investigative reporting
  • Special Award: Richard Salant