2009 Journalism Prizes
Ben Feller: Reporting on the Presidency
Ben Feller, White House Reporter for The Associated Press, has won the 23nd annual Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. The $5,000 award recognizes journalists whose high standards for accuracy and substance help foster a better public understanding of the Presidency. The award was presented by Jack Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at a National Press Club luncheon on June 7, 2010. Following the presentation of the award, General Brent Scowcroft addressed the audience.
When announcing their decision to award Ben Feller the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2009, the judges issued the following statement.
“In the first year of a notably newsworthy and often contentious new Presidency, Ben Feller of “The Associated Press” proved himself to be both a master of deadline reporting and an astute analyst of the meaning and significance of President Obama’s initiatives and actions.”
With singular enterprise, Feller broke the story of the President’s selection of Sonia Sotomayor for nomination to the Supreme Court and then set the tone for coverage of her confirmation by the Senate. In the diversity of Feller’s other articles the judges found that he portrayed a sense of President Obama’s character — reflecting in Africa his African heritage and honoring, in a midnight visit to Dover Air Force Base, the fallen soldiers who speak forever of the tragic cost of war. In all his stories Feller displayed insight and resourcefulness, and a quality of writing that was engaging, clear, and substantive on a tight deadline. The judges were unanimous in selecting Ben Feller as most deserving of the 2009 Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency.”
The judges for this year’s contest were:
Chair, James M. Cannon, former National Affairs Editor of Newsweek and former Assistant to President Ford for Domestic Policy; Tyne Vance Berlanga, Granddaughter of President Ford; Hal Bruno, retired Political Director of ABC News and formerly Chief Political Correspondent for Newsweek Magazine; Candice Nelson, associate professor of Government and Director of American University’s Campaign Management Institute; Gene Roberts, retired Philip Merrill College of Journalism Professor, University of Maryland and 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winner; Mark Rozell, professor of Public Policy at George Mason University.
This year’s winner:
Ben Feller covers the White House for The Associated Press. A reporter for 17 years, Feller began on the White House beat in November 2006. Working as part of the AP team based at the White House, Feller covers all facets of President Barack Obama’s agenda. He has traveled around the world to cover Presidents Bush and Obama and written about dozens of topics spanning foreign and domestic policy.
Feller won the Merriman Smith Award for print presidential coverage in 2010, presented by the White House Correspondents’ Association, for his coverage of President Obama’s surprise, late-night visit to Dover Air Force Base to honor the remains of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Feller, 39, has been with the Washington bureau of the AP since January 2003, when he began covering national education. Over nearly four years, he wrote about the politics and policies of education and went into classrooms to write about trend stories, many of them tied to the No Child Left Behind Act.
In the 10 years before that, Feller wrote for The Tampa Tribune in Tampa, Fla.; the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C.; and the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. His beats at those newspapers included politics, higher education, state government, transportation and crime.
Feller grew up in State College, Pa. and moved to Vestal, NY in his high school years. He returned to State College to attend Penn State University, where he graduated in 1992 with a degree in journalism. He now lives in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1846, The Associated Press is the world’s oldest and largest newsgathering organization, providing content to more than 15,000 news outlets with a daily reach of 1 billion people around the world. Its multimedia services are distributed by satellite and the Internet to more than 120 nations.
Greg Jaffe: Reporting on the National Defense
Greg Jaffe, Military Affairs Reporter for The Washington Post, has won the 23nd annual Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense. The $5,000 award recognizes journalists whose high standards for accuracy and substance help foster a better public understanding of National Defense. The award was presented by Jack Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at a National Press Club luncheon on June 7, 2010. Following the presentation of the award, General Brent Scowcroft addressed the audience.
When announcing their decision to award Greg Jaffe the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense in 2009, the judges issued the following statement:
“Mr. Jaffe’s story on the battle of Wanat was nothing short of “riveting,” as one of the judges characterized it. The heartrending story of a father’s efforts to investigate the death of his son was the lens through which Jaffe threw the spotlight on key issues–troop readiness and equipment challenges, and strategy in particular—associated with U.S. engagement in Afghanistan. Jaffe’s articles were well reported, researched and written.
Together, they offer a clear and cohesive picture of the many challenges associated with national defense–from individual tragedy to military failures and from on-the ground decisions by local commanders to efforts by the Secretary of Defense to remake the military to meet counterinsurgency conflicts. In a world in which national security issues are ever more complex, confusing, and urgent, the readability of Mr. Jaffe’s work helps to illuminate both the stakes and the challenges.”
The judges for this year’s contest were:
Chair, Debra van Opstal, Senior Fellow, Resilience Policy, Center for National Policy; Michael Champness, Reserve Colonel on active duty, Senior Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the Deputy Director of Operational Capability Requirements at Air Force Headquarters; Robert Holzer, Principal Analyst, National Security Programs, Gryphon Technologies, and recipient of the 1998 Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense; David M. Olive, Principal at Catalyst Partners with more than 30 years experience in business, politics, law, and public affairs, including establishment of The Washington Homeland Security Roundtable; Erik Peterson, Director of the Global Business Policy Council at AT Kearney and Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Karen Scowcroft, Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel – Financial Services for CIT Group Inc.
This year’s winner:
Greg Jaffe covers the military for The Washington Post where he has been since March 2009. Prior to the Post, he was a reporter with The Wall Street Journal from 1995-2008. He is the co-author of the book The Fourth Star about the lives of Generals Casey, Abizaid, Chiarelli and Petraeus from 1970 through the Iraq war. Jaffe covered the Pentagon full time for the Journal out of the paper’s Washington bureau beginning in January 2000. He has made multiple trips to Afghanistan and Iraq and embedded with troops at all levels. Jaffe shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for a series on defense spending. In 2002 and 2005, Jaffe won the Raymond Clapper Award for Washington coverage.
He also won the Gerald R. Ford award for defense coverage in 2002. He is a graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. His first job in journalism was with the Montgomery Advertiser in Montgomery, Ala. There he co-authored a series on the questionable fundraising tactics of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the nation’s wealthiest civil rights charity that was a finalist for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism. Jaffe grew up in Northern Virginia and lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife and two children.