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.The Nemours Papers: Series 3 of the duPont family papers, Special Collections, Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library. Box-folder 26:44 R5 Alfred I. duPont Radio Awards 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.All duPont–Columbia Award Winners , Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
duPont Award
1942 Fulton Lewis Jr. KGEI Radio, San Francisco
1943 Raymond Gram Swing WLW Radio, Cincinnati WMAZ Radio, Macon, Georgia
1944 H. V. Kaltenborn WJR Radio, Detroit WTAG Radio, Worcester, Massachusetts
1945 Lowell Thomas KDKA Radio, Pittsburgh WNAX Radio, Yankton, South Dakota
1946 Elmer Davis WHO Radio, Des Moines, Iowa WFIL Radio, Philadelphia
1947 Edward R. Murrow WBBM Radio, Chicago WFIL Radio, Philadelphia
1948 Henry J. Taylor KLZ Radio, Denver WLS Radio, Chicago
1949 Morgan Beatty WNOX Radio, Knoxville, Tennessee WPIX-TV, New York WWJ Radio, Detroit Special Program Award—American Broadcasting Company and Association
1950 John Cameron Swayze AVZ Radio, Hartford, Connecticut WFIL-TV, Philadelphia
1951 Joseph C. Harsch WCAU Radio and WCAU-TV, Philadelphia WEEI Radio, Boston
1952 Gerald W. Johnson WBNS-TV, Columbus, Ohio WMT Radio, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1953 Pauline FrederickPauline Frederick Papers, 1917–1990 , Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. Retrieved 2013-08-05. WBZ Radio and WBZ-TV, Boston WOI-TV, Ames, Iowa
1954 Eric Sevareid KGAK Radio, Gallup, New Mexico WHAS Radio, Louisville, Kentucky
1955 Howard K. Smith WICC Radio, Bridgeport, Connecticut WTIC Radio, Hartford, Connecticut
1956 Chet Huntley KNXT-TV, Los Angeles WFMT Radio, Chicago
1957 Clifton Utley KARD-TV, Wichita, Kansas KRON-TV, San Francisco
1958 David Brinkley KLZ-TV, Denver WSNY Radio, Schenectady
1959 David Schoenbrun KOLN-TV, Lincoln, Nebraska WNTA-TV, Newark, New Jersey
1960 Edward P. Morgan KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh WAVZ Radio, New Haven, Connecticut
1961 Martin Agronsky KING-TV, Seattle KPFK Radio, Los Angeles
1962 Howard K. Smith KVOA-TV, Tucson, Arizona WFMT Radio, Chicago
1963 Louis M. Lyons WFBM Radio, Indianapolis, Indiana Silver Baton—WJZ-TV, Baltimore
1964 WFTV, Orlando, Florida WRCV-TV, Philadelphia
1965 Cecil Brown KTWO-TV, Casper, Wyoming WBBM-TV, Chicago WCCO Radio, Minneapolis WFBM-TV, Indianapolis, Indiana WHCU Radio, Ithaca, New York WRVR Radio, New York
duPont–Columbia Award
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, "Defense and Domestic Needs: The Contest for Tomorrow" (produced by Alan Levin) NBC News, "First Tuesday: CBW (Chemical-Biological Warfare): The Secrets of Secrecy" (produced by Tom Pettit) 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 (Sam)" 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" (parts one and two) KNX Radio, Los Angeles, California, for editorials on important community issues NBC News and Robert Northshield, "The Sins of the Fathers" (a segment of NBC Reports) National Public Affairs Center for Television and Elizabeth Drew, "Thirty Minutes With..." 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, "Why Me?" (Joe Saltzman, producer) NBC News, Fred Freed, "The Energy Crisis" (an NBC White Paper) 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" (parts one, two, and three) 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" (parts one, two, three, four, five, and six) KCET-TV, Los Angeles, "28 Tonight" (citing the segments National Lead and Number Our Days) KGW-TV, Portland, "The Timber Farmers" NBC News, "Human Rights: A Soviet-American Debate" (moderated by Edwin Newman) and "NBC Reports: The Struggle for Freedom" (anchored by Garrick Utley) 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" (credited to Julie Frederikse) 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, "The Living Sands of Namib" (credited to Thomas Skinner and Patricia Northrup) 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" (credited to David Freudberg) WGBH-TV, Boston and William Cran, "WORLD: Chachaji: My Poor Relation" and John Angier, "NOVA: The Final Frontier" WMHT-TV, Schenectady, "Capital Punishment: Inside Albany" WPLG-TV, Miami and Clarence Jones for investigative reporting Special Award: Richard Salant
1980 ABC News, "Closeup: Arson: Fire for Hire!" (reported by Brit Hume) and "World News Tonight: Second to None?" Bill Moyers, for outstanding reporting on CBS News and WNET-TV, New York CBS News, "CBS Reports: The Boat People" (produced by Andrew Lack and reported by Ed Bradley) and "60 Minutes" KCTS-TV, Seattle, "Do I Look Like I Want to Die?" KDFW-TV, Dallas, for investigative reporting KUTV-TV, Salt Lake City, "Clouds of Doubt" KXL Radio, Portland, "The Air Space -- How Safe?" WGBH-TV, Boston, "WORLD: F-16: Sale of the Century" on PBS (reported by Andrew Cockburn) WHA-TV, Madison, Catalyst Films and Wisconsin Educational Television Network, "An American Ism: Joe McCarthy" (parts 1 and 2, directed by Glenn Silber)
1981 SILVER BATON ABC News, "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage" SILVER BATON Ed Bradley and CBS News, "CBS Reports: Blacks in America: With All Deliberate Speed?" SILVER BATON Group W and KYW-TV, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; WBZ-TV, Boston, Massachusetts; WJZ-TV, Baltimore Maryland for I-Team Investigations SILVER BATON Mississippi Center for Educational Television, Jackson, Mississippi, "William Faulkner: A Life on Paper" (directed by Robert Squier)