White House Correspondents' Association

The White House Correspondents' Association 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. Application for membership is made and granted by the association on the basis of criteria. Historically, notable issues handled by the WHCA were 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.
In February 2025, the White House announced that the WHCA would no longer determine which outlets are allowed access to the president.

WWW whca.net 𝕏 whca

Association leadership

The leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association for 2024–25 includes:

Officers
*President: Eugene Daniels, Politico
*Vice President: Weijia Jiang, CBS News
*Treasurer: Sara Cook, CBS News
*Secretary: Justin Sink, Bloomberg News
Board members
*Andrew Harnik, Getty Images
*Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News
*Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters
*Courtney Subramanian, BBC
*Karen Travers, ABC News
Executive Director
*Steven Thomma

Association presidents

Year	Name	Employer
	William Wallace Price	The Washington Star
	Frank R. Lamb	The Washington Star
	J. Russell Young	The Washington Star
	E. Ross Bartley	Associated Press
	Isaac Gregg	The Sun
	George E. Durno	International News Service
	John Edwin Nevin	The Washington Post
	John T. Lambert	Universal Service
	J. Russell Young	The Washington Star
	Wilbur Forrest	New York Herald Tribune
	Lewis Wood	The New York Times
	Paul R. Mallon	syndicated columnist
	George E. Durno	International News Service
	Francis M. Stephenson	Associated Press
	Albert J. Warner	New York Herald Tribune
	Frederick J. Storm	United Press Associations
	Walter J. Trohan	Chicago Tribune
	Earl Godwin	The Washington Times
	Felix Belair Jr.	The New York Times
	Thomas F. Reynolds	United Press Associations
	John C. O'Brien	The Philadelphia Inquirer
	John C. Henry	The Washington Star
	Douglas B. Cornell	Associated Press
	Paul Wooten	The Times-Picayune
	Merriman Smith	United Press Associations
	Edward T. Folliard	The Washington Post
	Felix Belair Jr.	The New York Times
	Ernest B. Vaccaro	Associated Press
	Robert G. Nixon	International News Service
	Carlton Kent	Chicago Sun-Times
	Robert J. Donovan	New York Herald Tribune
	Anthony H. Leviero	The New York Times
	Laurence H. Burd	Chicago Tribune
	Francis M. Stephenson	Daily News
	Marvin Arrowsmith	Associated Press
	Garnett D. Horner	The Washington Star
	William H.Y. Knighton Jr.	The Baltimore Sun
	Robert Roth	Philadelphia Bulletin
	Merriman Smith	United Press International
	Alan L. Otten	The Wall Street Journal
	Robert E. Thompson	Hearst Newspapers
	Frank Cormier	Associated Press
	Carroll Kilpatrick	The Washington Post
	Charles W. Bailey II	Minneapolis Tribune
	Peter Lisagor	Chicago Daily News
	John P. Sutherland	U.S. News & World Report
	Edgar A. Poe	The Times-Picayune
	Ted Knap	Scripps Howard Newspapers
	James Deakin	St. Louis Post-Dispatch
	Lawrence M. O'Rourke	Philadelphia Bulletin
	Paul F. Healy	Daily News
	Aldo Beckman	Chicago Tribune
	Ralph Harris	Reuters
	Robert C. Pierpoint	CBS News
	Clifford Evans	RKO General Broadcasting
	Thomas M. DeFrank	Newsweek
	James R. Gerstenzang	Associated Press
	Sara Fritz	Los Angeles Times
	Gary F. Schuster	CBS News
	Bill Plante	CBS News
	Norman D. Sandler	United Press International
	Jeremiah O'Leary	The Washington Times
	Johanna Neuman	USA Today
	Robert M. Ellison	Sheridan Broadcasting
	Charles Bierbauer	CNN
	Karen Hosler	The Baltimore Sun
	George E. Condon Jr.	Copley News Service
	Kenneth T. Walsh	U.S. News & World Report
	Carl P. Leubsdorf	The Dallas Morning News
	Terence Hunt	Associated Press
	Laurence McQuillan	Reuters
	Stewart Powell	Hearst Newspapers
	Susan Page	USA Today
	Arlene Dillon	CBS News
	Steve Holland	Reuters
	Bob Deans	Cox Newspapers
	Carl M. Cannon	National Journal
	Ron Hutcheson	Knight Ridder
	Mark Smith	Associated Press TV and Radio
	Steve Scully	C-SPAN
	Ann Compton	ABC News
	Jennifer Loven	Associated Press
	Edwin Chen	Bloomberg
	David Jackson	USA Today
	Caren Bohan	Reuters
	Ed Henry	Fox News
	Steven Thomma	McClatchy
	Christi Parsons	Tribune Media
	Carol Lee	Wall Street Journal
	Jeff Mason	Reuters
	Margaret Talev	Bloomberg
	Olivier Knox	Sirius XM
	Jonathan Karl	ABC News
	Zeke Miller	Associated Press
	Steven Portnoy	CBS News Radio
	Tamara Keith	NPR
	Kelly O'Donnell	NBC News
	Eugene Daniels	Politico
	Weijia Jiang	CBS News
	Justin Sink	Bloomberg News

White House press room

The WHCA was formerly 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 first 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.
Trump also declined to attend the dinner in 2025, the first year of his second presidency. Some members of his administration were also absent from the dinner and instead attended the launch party for Executive Branch, a new private club in Georgetown that is owned by Donald Trump Jr. and others with ties to the administration.

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, several attendees, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for COVID-19. However, no cases of serious illness were reported as a result of the dinner.

Awards

The Aldo Beckman Memorial Award

Established in 1981 in memory of Aldo Beckman, 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
1981	Helen Thomas	UPI
1982	Rich Jaroslovsky	The Wall Street Journal
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
2013	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
2023	Barak Ravid	Axios
2025	Alex Thompson	Axios

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. 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 /
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974	Douglas C. Wilson	Print	The Providence Journal	Resignation of President Nixon
1975	Aldo Beckman	Print	Chicago Tribune	"Sarah Jane Moore's assassination attempt on President Ford"
1976
1977	Michael J. Sniffen and Richard E. Meyer	Print	AP	Bert Lance used the same stock as collateral for two different loans.
1978	Edward Walsh	Print		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."
1980	Lars-Erik Nelson and Frank Van Riper	Print	New York Daily News	"deadline coverage of the negotiations to free American hostages held in Iran during the Carter administration."
1981
1982
1983	Staff	Print	Newsweek	"Coverage of the bombing of Marine headquarters in Lebanon"
1984	David Hoffman	Print	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	Print	Knight Ridder	"The Reykjavík Summit"
1987	Gerald F. Seib	Print	The Wall Street Journal
1988
1989	Norman D. Sandler	Print	UPI
1990	Steve Taylor	Broadcast	Unistar Radio Networks	"President Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia."
1990	Norman D. Sandler	Print	UPI	"1990 Helsinki summit"
1991	Susan Page	Print	Newsday	Gulf War
1992	Peter Maer	Broadcast	Mutual-NBC Radio	Live coverage of President George Bush's collapse at an official dinner in Tokyo
1992	David Espo	Print	AP	Deadline reporting on Election Day 1992
1993	Mara Liasson	Broadcast	National Public Radio
1993	Terrence Hunt	Print	Associated Press
1994	Mara Liasson	Broadcast	NPR
1994	William Neikirk	Print	Chicago Tribune
1995	Mark Knoller	Broadcast	CBS News	"Writing and broadcasting multiple breaking stories... about a White House intruder."
1995	Peter Maer	Broadcast	Mutual/NBC Radio	"Outstanding broadcast of President Clinton's attendance at the funeral of the Israeli Prime Minister."
1995	Susan Cornwell	Print	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 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."
1996	Ron Fournier	Print	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."
1997	Ron Fournier	Print	Associated Press	"President Clinton's knee injury that sent him to the hospital in the middle of the night."
1998	Jodi Enda	Print	Knight Ridder	"President Clinton's meeting with survivors of genocide in Rwanda...."
1999	Gary Nurenberg	Broadcast	KTLA-TV, Tribune Broadcasting	"Monica Lewinsky Deposed"
1999	Jodi Enda	Print	Knight Ridder Newspapers	"A poignant story about an emotional day in Kosovo."
2000	Jim Angle	Broadcast	Fox News Channel
2000	Sandra Sobieraj	Print	Associated Press
2001	Peter Maer	Broadcast	CBS News
2001	Ron Fournier	Print	Associated Press
2002	Jim Angle	Broadcast	Fox News Channel
2002	David Sanger	Print	The New York Times
2003	Mike Allen	Print	The Washington Post
2004	Ron Fournier	Print	Associated Press
2004	Jackie Calmes	Print	The Wall Street Journal		Honorable Mention
2005	Terry Moran	Broadcast	ABC News
2005	Deb Riechmann	Print	Associated Press
2006	Martha Raddatz	Broadcast	ABC News
2006	David Sanger	Print	The New York Times
2007	Ed Henry	Broadcast	CNN
2007	Deb Riechmann	Print	Associated Press
2008	David Greene	Broadcast	NPR
2008	Sandra Sobieraj Westfall	Print	People magazine
2009	Jake Tapper	Broadcast	ABC News
2009	Ben Feller	Print	Associated Press
2010	Jake Tapper	Broadcast	ABC News
2010	Dan Balz	Print	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"
2011	Glenn Thrush, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan	Print	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
2012	Julie Pace	Print	Associated Press	2012 Obama campaign's get-out-the-vote strategy
2013	Peter Maer	Broadcast	CBS News	"Sequestration"
2013	Peter Baker	Print	The New York Times	"Obama Seeks Approval by Congress for Strike in Syria"
2014	Jim Avila	Broadcast	ABC News	Cuba/Alan Gross
2014	Josh Lederman	Print	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.
2015	Matt Viser	Print	The Boston Globe	"An Inside Look at How the Iran Talks Unfolded"
2016	Edward-Isaac Dovere	Print	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."
2017	Josh Dawsey	Print	Politico	"Resignation of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer"
2018	Ed Henry	Broadcast	Fox News	Interview with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt
2018	Josh Dawsey	Print	Washington Post
2019	Alan Cullison, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Dustin Volz	Print	The Wall Street Journal	"Trump Repeatedly Pressed Ukraine to Investigate Biden's Son"
2019		Broadcast	CNN	"FBI. Open the door."
2020	Michael Balsamo	Print	Associated Press	"Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud"
2020	Jonathan Karl	Broadcast	ABC News	Trump getting COVID and being rushed to the hospital
2021	Zeke Miller and Mike Balsamo	Print	Associated Press	CDC mask order
2021	Jonathan Karl	Broadcast	ABC News	January 6 United States Capitol attack coverage
2022	Jeff Mason	Print	Reuters	"Exclusive: Biden to waive tariffs for 24 months on solar panels hit by probe"
2022	Phil Mattingly	Broadcast	CNN	Zelensky's White House visit
2023	Peter Baker	Print	The New York Times	Coverage of President Biden's visit to Israel just days after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel
2023	Tamara Keith	Broadcast	NPR	Audio report of President Biden’s trip to Israel
2025	Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller	Print	Associated Press	Madhani and Miller caught the White House press office trying to alter the official account of history — the White House transcript of Biden’s use of the word “garbage” to describe supporters of Donald Trump.

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 /
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...."
2023		The Washington Post	"The Washington Post shows courage, sensitivity and originality in breaking with journalism industry norms to inform and show readers how the AR-15 weapon inflicts horrific damage to the human body."

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 /
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."
2023	Doug Mills	The New York Times	President Biden boarding Air Force One as he leaves Warsaw, Poland

Discontinued awards

The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award

Named in honor of the distinguished correspondent Edgar Allen Poe, 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.
Notable past winners of the award include Rochelle Sharpe, Marjie Lundstrom, Michael Tackett, Russell Carollo, Cheryl Reed, Michael Isikoff, Sam Roe, Sean Naylor, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, Marcus Stern, Megan Twohey, David Fahrenthold, and Norah O'Donnell.

Raymond Clapper Memorial Award

Named in honor of Raymond Clapper and given "to a journalist or team for distinguished Washington reporting." The award was presented from 1944 to 2003, usually at the WHCA 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.
Notable past winners of the Raymond Clapper Award included Ernie Pyle, Nicholas Lemann, Clark R. Mollenhoff, James Reston, Joseph Albright, Morton Mintz, Adam Liptak, Helene Cooper, Jean Heller, Newbold Noyes Jr., Thomas Lunsford Stokes, Tom Squitieri, Marcus Stern, Susan Feeney, Doris Fleeson, James Polk, James V. Risser, and William Neikirk.