2023 Journalism Prizes
Six Journalists Honored with Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation announced the winners of the 37th annual Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prizes for Distinguished Reporting in 2023 at its annual meeting on June 3, 2024.
The journalism awards committee was proud to recognize six talented journalists for their work to cover the presidency and national defense. We value these journalists’ hard work and were proud to acknowledge their exemplary reporting at our annual dinner.
Congrats to
Toluse Olorunnipa (The Washington Post)
Travis Tritten, Konstantin Toropin, Drew Lawrence and Steve Beynon (Military.com)
Carla Babb (Voice of America)
Toluse Olorunnipa: Reporting on the Presidency
Toluse Olorunnipa
For his skill and breadth of vision, the selection committee honored Toluse Olorunnipa, White House Bureau Chief of The Washington Post, as the 2024 recipient of the award for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency.
As President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s third year in office unfolded and his team began preparing for the 2024 campaign, the reporting of Toluse Olorunnipa stood out for its balanced, insightful, historically informed coverage on the presidency.Across a wide range of topics involving the presidency, Olorunnipa’s reporting shows consistent strength both in covering the issue of the moment and in giving that moment historical context.
Travis Tritten, Konstantin Toropin, Drew Lawrence, Steve Beynon: Reporting on the Presidency
Travis Tritten
Konstantin Toropin
Drew Lawrence
Steve Beynon
The Gerald R. Ford Foundation presented the 2023 award for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense to the reporting team from Military.com, three of which are U.S. military veterans.
The Military.com team’s multi-part series on Extremism and the U.S. Military was insightful, detailed, and alarming. Each of these timely articles were presented in a factual, matter-of-fact style that was completely free of any sensational rhetoric or bias. The series also reveals that Pentagon leaders in each of the military services need to understand the gravity of the issue and develop more comprehensive mitigation strategies for the future. The reporters conducted extensive interviews with current and former military, members of extremist organizations, and experts to produce a series with the kind of sourcing, research, and writing that is rare in today’s rapid news cycles. This is exactly the type of superior journalism the Ford Prize seeks to recognize and award each year.
Carla Babb: Honorable Mention - Reporting on National Defense
Carla Babb
The judging panel for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense also awarded an Honorable Mention to Carla Babb from Voice of America. At a time in which only a small percentage of the U.S. population serves in the military, Carla Babb gives the rest of us an “up close and personal” look at how the war in Ukraine has shaped U.S. missions, and at the preparations for war by its neighbors – in the process, educating us on military strategy, training, weaponry, and the unexpected and important role of America’s National Guard in training the warfighters.
The visuals – some of which she struggled for months to obtain -- bring her written words to life and give Americans a better understanding of the risks, the stakes, and the commitment to democracy by the countries fighting Russian aggression.