2017 Journalism Prizes
Watch the Award Ceremony Here
Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker: Reporting on the Presidency
Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2017 Recipient – Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker (The Washington Times)
Philip Rucker, White House Bureau Chief and Ashley Parker, White House reporter for “The Washington Post.”, have won the 31st Annual Gerald R. Ford Journalism 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 Michael Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at the Foundation’s Annual Dinner on Monday, June 4, 2018, at The Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C.
When announcing their decision to award Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker, the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2017, the judges issued the following statement:
“After years of covering leak-resistant and measured Administrations, Washington journalism was turned upside down in 2017 with the arrival of President Donald Trump. As lead White House reporters for the Washington Post, Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker were among the first to realize that Trump’s tumultuous, news-dominating White House, including Presidential tweets, rapid staff turnover and shifting public statements, was not a temporary learning experience, but a permanent feature of his presidency. Parker and Rucker often led the way in documenting the uncertainty that Trump’s approach created, particularly inside the Administration, and especially as the President grew increasingly frustrated with the Mueller investigation. They produced thoughtful, well-sourced reports, often looking beyond the daily tumult, on how Trump’s instinctive decision-making and determination to set the daily agenda affected domestic policy, the President’s relationship with Congress, and his approach to international intelligence and foreign affairs. For their comprehensive reporting on a historic change in leadership style, Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker have earned the 2017 Gerald R. Ford Award for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency.”
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.
This year’s winners:
Philip Rucker is the White House Bureau Chief at The Washington Post, leading its team chronicling the Donald Trump presidency. He previously served as National Political Correspondent, traveling the country to anchor The Post’s coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign. Rucker also has served as White House Correspondent, chronicling President Obama’s second term, and as Congressional Correspondent, covering the Republican Party’s rise to power and the emergence of the tea party. He was the newspaper’s lead reporter covering Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Rucker and a team of Post reporters were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and the George Polk Award for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election and connections to the Trump campaign. Rucker has worked at The Post since 2005 and has covered an array of beats, including suburban news and Maryland state politics, as well as philanthropy and non-profits. Rucker and a team of Post reporters were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for coverage of the 2009 massacre at Fort Hood, Texas.
Rucker is a Political Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC and appears regularly on PBS’s “Washington Week,” as well as an array of radio news programs. Rucker graduated from Yale University in 2006 with a degree in History and worked as a reporter and editor at the Yale Daily News.
Ashley Parker is a White House reporter at The Washington Post, chronicling the Donald Trump presidency and all of its characters. She joined The Post in 2017, after 11 years at The New York Times. There, she covered the 2016 presidential campaign (both Jeb Bush and Trump), Congress, and Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign. She also worked on the Metro Desk, and wrote for nearly every section of the paper, including Style and The New York Times Sunday Magazine. She started at The Times in 2005, as Maureen Dowd’s research assistant.
Parker and a team of Post reporters were awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election and connections to the Trump campaign. She and her colleague, Philip Rucker, also won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for their 2017 reporting on the Trump presidency.
Parker is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and regularly appears on PBS’s “Washington Week.” She has also written for Glamour Magazine, The Huffington Post, The New York Sun and The Washingtonian, among other publications. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 with a double major in English (creative writing concentration) and communications and worked as a reporter and editor on The Daily Pennsylvanian. She lives in Washington, D.C.
J.J. Green: Reporting on the National Defense
Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense in 2017 Recipient – J.J. Green (WTOP Radio)
J.J. Green, a national security correspondent with the WTOP Radio, has won the 31st Annual Gerald R. Ford Journalism 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 Michael Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at the Foundation’s Annual Dinner on Monday, June 4, 2018, at The Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.
When announcing their decision to award J.J. Green the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense in 2017, the judges issued the following statement:
“In the judges’ view, JJ Green’s series addressed one of the most critical national security issues of the year and for the future: Russia’s cyberattacks against American’s election infrastructure. At a time in which the debate over this existential threat to the country often devolves into partisan wrangling, Mr. Green stayed rigorously apolitical. He covered targets, tactics, and methods of Russia’s cyberattacks in the United States and engaged a range of national experts and leaders in the series.
Each segment contained an example that made the risk relatable. An odd petition to give Alaska back to Russia quickly garnered 40,000 signatures of support from Russian bots. A rumor campaign triggered by RT and Sputnik that a US base in Turkey had been overrun by terrorism was retweeted 4,000 times by Russian bots in just over an hour; A text alert hoax by Russian trolls warned residents in Louisiana to take shelter from a chemical explosion and toxic cloud.
Mr. Green managed to condense all this information into two-minute segments that were cohesive, informative, understandable, and interesting. He truly met the Foundation’s overarching goal of fostering better public understanding of the nation’s security. At the same time, Green leveraged the narrative power of his medium – radio – to give color to hard-hitting coverage of an issue with local, national, and global impacts.”
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.
This year’s winner:
JJ Green is the National Security Correspondent at WTOP. He reports daily on international security, intelligence, foreign policy, terrorism and cyber developments. He also provides regular on-air analysis and guidance on global security matters.
He joined WTOP on March 11, 2004, the same day of the Madrid bombing by al-Qaida. In the years since then, he has traveled widely, while investigating, reporting and analyzing the U.S. war against terrorism and has interviewed the leadership of all the key national security components of the U.S. government and many security and foreign government officials around the world.
He hosts the weekly program “The Hunt,” and conducts in-depth in-depth interviews with experts on ISIS, al-Qaida, the Taliban and other emerging terror threats.
He has worked expansively in the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and Africa covering national security matters. He traveled by the U.S. Air Force in 2006, during the height of the Iraq War, 18,000 miles, to 10 countries in 31 days, covering the wars in Iraq, Africa, and Afghanistan.
In 2010 he returned to Afghanistan and Iraq, while embedded to cover the war efforts.
He’s reported from Kandahar, Zabul province, and Kabul, in Afghanistan. In Israel, he spent time in the Golan Heights, Israel’s borders with Syrian and Lebanon, and Gaza. He’s interviewed intelligence, military, and political officials about the conflict there and the prospects for peace, and the roadblocks. He saw the weaponry Hamas and Hezbollah use, visited Israel’s military headquarters for briefings on their challenges and approaches to dealing with them.
He’s spent significant periods of time in North Africa, in Morocco and Western Sahara each year since 2014 investigating the origins and ideology of the terrorism problems facing the region.
Since 2016, he’s dedicated many months investigating growing Russian espionage networks, operatives, and plots in the U.S. and beyond.
He is the recipient of a National Edward R. Murrow Award (2009) for “Hidden Hunter” -his reporting aboard a nuclear powered, Los Angeles Class submarine underway in the Atlantic Ocean. He also won the prestigious Associated Press Douglas S. Freeman award for his investigative series, “Dignity Denied,” which explored decades of neglect at America’s hallowed Arlington National Cemetery.
He has also won more than a two dozen regional and local awards since he started working at WTOP. In 2012, he was honored by the University of Maryland, University College as their commencement speaker, in recognition of his broad body of national security reporting accomplishments. He’s also been recognized by top national security officials for his deep knowledge of international affairs and ability to succinctly analyze complex issues.
In addition to his work at WTOP, JJ regularly lectures at universities and colleges on national security issues and often speaks to U.S. government, military and national security organizations. He is also a contributor to Jane’s Intelligence Review magazine.
Before joining team WTOP, he traveled to and reported on the events, issues, people and places of Africa, Latin America, and Europe for the six years on public and international television. He began his career in Washington in 1989 at WMAL radio. In the mid-1990s he was trained as a TV correspondent at ABC News’ “Nightline.” Later he worked as a general assignment part-time correspondent at CNN. In the late 90s, he was brought on at CSPAN as weekend host of the Washington Journal. In 1998, JJ began working as a correspondent for the Voice of America Television on Window on America and as host and correspondent of Africa Journal while traveling there frequently until he joined WTOP in 2004.
JJ graduated magna cum laude from Hampton University. He’s fluent in Spanish, speaks working level French and is studying Korean. An avid athlete, he is an accomplished speed skater, a regular runner, and swimmer, cross trainer and is an expert kickboxer.
Guy Taylor and Dan Boylan: Reporting on the Presidency Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2017 – Guy Taylor and Dan Taylor (The Washington Times)
Guy Taylor and Dan Boylan reporters for “The Washington Times,” have won an Honorable Mention for the 31st annual Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. The 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 Michael Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at the Foundation’s Annual Dinner on Monday, June 4, 2018, at The Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C.
When announcing their decision to award Guy Taylor and Dan Boylan the Honorable Mention for Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2017, the judges issued the following statement:
“Russia’s attempts to influence U.S. elections, and political fallout from those efforts, were a dominant, ongoing news story throughout 2017. While most news organizations thoroughly covered multiple investigations that resulted, Guy Taylor and Dan Boylan of the Washington Times approached the controversy from a different direction, producing a unique series of articles exploring potential motives for the Russian actions, President Trump’s attitude toward the U.S. intelligence community, and the impact worldwide of Russia’s apparent success in roiling the U.S. political system. For their distinctive and wide-ranging series, Guy Taylor and Dan Boylan are awarded honorable mention for the 2017 Gerald R. Ford Award for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency.”
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.
This year’s honorable mentions:
Guy Taylor is the National Security Team Leader at The Washington Times, overseeing the paper’s State Department, Pentagon and intelligence community coverage. He’s also a frequent guest on The McLaughlin Group and C-SPAN.
His series on political, economic and security developments in Mexico won a 2012 Virginia Press Association award.
Prior to rejoining The Times in 2011, his work was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Fund For Investigative Journalism, and appeared in a variety of publications, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to Salon, Reason, Prospect Magazine of London, the Daily Star of Beirut, the Jerusalem Post and the St. Petersburg Times. He’s also served as an editor at World Politics Review, written for America’s Quarterly and produced news videos and feature stories for Agence France-Presse.
Mr. Taylor is a graduate of Clark University. After a stint at States News Service, he spent five years at The Times from 2001 through 2006, first on the metro desk and later reporting from Iraq, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Guantanamo Bay, in addition to pursuing special assignments throughout the U.S. He was part of a team of Times reporters who won a Society of Professional Journalists award for their coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Dan Boylan is a national security reporter at The Washington Times, with an emphasis on covering the Capitol Hill legislative committees that deal with intelligence, foreign relations, and military affairs.
Prior to joining The Times, Mr. Boylan covered the Massachusetts State Legislature and North Carolina General Assembly.
After 9/11, he detoured from daily reporting and served as a Fulbright Fellow in Indonesia and also managed U.S. and U.K. counterterrorism media projects across the Middle East and Asia.
Throughout the years, he filed datelined foreign correspondence for the Boston Herald, South China Morning Post, and The National, in addition to working as an international news editor at The Associated Press headquarters.
Mr. Boylan is a graduate of Bates College, lecturer, and award-wining filmmaker.
Reporting on National Defense Honorable Mention 2017
Honorable Mention for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense in 2017 – R. Jeffrey Smith, Patrick Malone, Chris Zubak-Skees, and Peter Cary (The Center for Public Integrity)
R. Jeffrey Smith, Patrick Malone, Chris Zubak-Skees and Peter Cary with the “Center for Public Integrity,” have won an Honorable Mention for the 31st annual Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense. The 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 Michael Ford, son of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, at the Foundation’s Annual Dinner on Monday, June 4, 2018, at The Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C.
When announcing their decision to award R. Jeffrey Smith, Patrick Malone, Chris Zubak-Skees, and Peter Cary the Honorable Mention for Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense in 2017, the judges issued the following statement:
“The judging panel chose the Center for Public Integrity and the team of R. Jeffrey Smith, Patrick Malone, Chris Zubak-Skees and Peter Cary, for Honorable Mention. Their painstaking investigative journalism into continuing problems in the nuclear weapons production complex exposed not only health and safety concerns, but defense readiness issues. The judges believe that as pressure continues to grow in the reporting industry for shorter attention-grabbing articles, journalistic non-profits like the Center for Public Integrity play an increasingly important role in nurturing the patient reporting, shoe leather sourcing, and in-depth analysis required to produce substantive investigative stories.”
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.
This year’s honorable mentions:
R. Jeffrey Smith is the Managing Editor for National Security at the Center for Public Integrity. He was previously a National Investigative Correspondent and National Investigative Editor at The Washington Post, as well as the newspaper’s Bureau Chief in Rome and its National Security Correspondent. Smith won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2006, along with two colleagues at the Post, for articles on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He was also a finalist with other Post reporters for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting in 1999 (from Kosovo) and a finalist with others for the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting in 2005 (about Abu Ghraib and military prisoner abuse). In 2006, he and two other Post reporters received the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting and the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Reporting. That year he was also a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. In 1986, he received the National Magazine Award for Public Interest from the American Society of Magazine Editors, for writing about arms control.
Patrick Malone joined the Center for Public Integrity in May 2015 to cover national security. He spent 20 years reporting on justice, politics and deep investigations for newspapers in Colorado and New Mexico, including The Santa Fe New Mexican. The Associated Press Media Editors recognized his work with an honorable mention in the public service category of its national Journalism Excellence Awards for reporting that uncloaked secrets behind a radiation accident caused by Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2014. Malone also received a national award for health care policy reporting from the Association of Health Care Journalists for an expose in 2014 that revealed how hospitals leverage inflated consumer health care costs into tax breaks. He has also received dozens of regional journalism awards.
Chris Zubak-Skees is Data Editor at the Center for Public Integrity, working at the intersection of media, technology, and design. Projects he contributed to having won Loeb, Goldsmith, and Philip Meyer awards, as well as honors from the Society for News Design. A graduate from Rochester Institute of Technology with a journalism and computer science education, he previously served as a reporting fellow at the Sunlight Foundation.
Peter Cary was a consulting reporter in the national security unit at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C. He is a former investigative reporter and editor at U.S. News & World Report and finished his career there as the managing editor. Cary’s projects have won numerous awards, including first prizes from the Overseas Press Club, and the Sigma Delta Chi award for Best Magazine Story of the year. Also, under his supervision, USNews.com won a National Magazine Award in 2001 for “best magazine website.”