2010 Journalism Prizes
Steven Thomma: Reporting on the Presidency
Steven Thomma, White House Reporter for the McClatchy Newspapers, has won the 24th 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. This year, the award will be presented by Steve Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at a National Press Club luncheon in June. Following the presentation of the award, General Brent Scowcroft will address the audience.
When announcing their decision to award Steven Thomma the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2010, the judges issued the following statement.
“In his reporting Steven Thomma demonstrates a clear understanding that, not the first year, but the second year in office for a new President is the more accurate measure of his leadership, his management of the complexities ofthe Federal executive offices, his exercise of Constitutional powers, his way of communicating to the American people, and his standing in the public mind. Thomma not only met the important criteria of timeliness, clarity of presentation, insight, and conciseness, but he also made excellent use of expert sources to provide a layer of analysis that stood out among his competition. His writing is clear, based on solid facts, and lightened with engaging inventiveness. In every respect, the judges found Thomma’s reporting on the Presidency in 2010 outstanding.”
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; Hal Bruno, retired Political Director of ABC News and formerly Chief Political Correspondent for Newsweek Magazine; John P. McConnell, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Speechwriter to the President and Vice President; Candice Nelson, Associate Professor of Government and Director of American University’s Campaign Management Institute; Mark Rozell, Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University.
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation sponsors the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prizes for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency and Distinguished Reporting on National Defense to recognize and encourage thoughtful, insightful, and enterprising work by journalists covering the presidency and national defense. The Foundation is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation whose programs are supported entirely by contributions and bequests in an effort to honor President Ford’s sustained commitment to public service.
For more information about the annual prize or previous winners contact: Joe Calvaruso, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, 303 Pearl Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504-5353, (616) 254-0397, jcalvaruso@38foundation.org or visit our website at https://geraldrfordfoundation.org .
This year’s winner:
Steven Thomma covers the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. He’s covered presidential politics as the Chief Political Correspondent and covered the White House during the presidencies of Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He’s reported from more than 40 countries.
Thomma has covered Washington since 1987, first as a regional reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, then covering national politics and the White House for Knight Ridder, and then politics and the White House for McClatchy.
He won the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman Award for distinguished White House coverage for his campaign work in 2000, and the National Press Club’s award for best regional reporting in Washington in 1994.
A native of Chicago, Steve graduated from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. He started his career at the fabled City News Bureau of Chicago. He also worked at the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette in Indiana and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota befo~e coming to Washington. He lives in Virginia, but still cheers for the Bears, Bulls and White Sox.
McClatchy publishes more than 30 newspapers, including the Charlotte Observer, Columbia State, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald, Raleigh News & Observer and Sacramento Bee. McClatchy stories also are distributed to more than 400 newspapers through the McClatchy-Tribune news service.
Shane Harris: Reporting on the National Defense
Shane Harris, Senior Writer for the Washingtonian, has won the 24th 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. This year, the award will be presented by Steve Ford, son ofthe late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at a National Press Club luncheon in June. Following the presentation of the award, General Brent Scowcroft will address the audience.
When announcing their decision to award Shane Harris the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense in 2010, the judges issued the following statement.
“The judges felt that the body of work submitted by Mr. Harris showcased some of the most important cross-cutting challenges of our times – often writing about issues with which the nation is still coming to grips: His story on the laws of war raised important questions about standards of warfare in an age of new technological capabilities. The judges noted that his article anticipated issues that are today being raised in the conflict in Libya. In Hacking the Bad Guys, he highlighted America’s struggle to cope with a new type of warfare that will impact the nation’s security as well as its economic competitiveness. His gripping tale of waste and delay highlighted a decade’s long struggle to purchase a new generation fuel tanker, noting that “today’s tanker pilots are flying airplanes first flown by their grandfathers and the pilots who will fly the new generation of tanker haven’t been born yet.” His article on the National Counterterrorism Center described the nation’s struggle to manage the information needed to prevent future terrorist attacks.
The judges were particularly impressed by Mr. Harris’s ability to illuminate complex policy issues while maintaining a fair and balanced approach on topics that are often highly polarized.”
The judges for this year’s contest were:
Chair, Debra van Opstal, Senior Fellow, Resilience Policy, Center for National Policy; 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.
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation sponsors the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prizes for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency and Distinguished Reporting on National Defense to recognize and encourage thoughtful, insightful, and enterprising work by journalists covering the presidency and national defense. The Foundation is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation whose programs are supported entirely by contributions and bequests in an effort to honor President Ford’s sustained commitment to public service.
For more information about the annual prize or previous winners contact: Joe Calvaruso, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, 303 Pearl Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504-5353, (616) 254-0397, jcalvaruso@38foundation.org or visit our website at https://geraldrfordfoundation.org .
This year’s winner:
An author and journalist, Shane Harris has spent the past decade writing about national security and counter-terrorism. Shane is currently senior writer for Washingtonian magazine, and he writes for other national publications and frequently speaks to the public and the news media. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed book The Watchers.
Prior to joining Washingtonian, in 2010, Shane was a staff correspondent for National Journal for five years. Before that post, he was the technology editor and a staff correspondent at Government Executive magazine, the premiere publication covering management in the federal government. Shane also was the managing editor for Movieline magazine in Los Angeles, for which he covered the film industry and oversaw the work ofthe publication’s editorial staff and its Web site. Shane began his journalism career in 1999, as the research coordinator and a writer for Governing magazine in Washington, where he covered issues and trends affecting state and
local government officials nationwide.
Shane graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in Politics in 1998. He is also a fiction writer. While living in Los Angeles, he helped found and served as the artistic director of a sketch comedy troupe. Shane is a Sundance Film Festival screenwriting fmalist. For his work on Chinese cyber espionage, Shane received an honorable mention from the judges of the Edgar A. Poe Award, given by the White House Correspondents’ Association for excellence in coverage of news of national or regional significance.