NPFAwardsdinner

Dinner Videos Available on YouTube

The message on February 16^th at NPF’s Annual Awards Dinner was clear: Journalism matters and it always will.  “There is nobody else who quite does what trained journalists do – dig up credible information critical to an honest democracy” Paul Anger said in his acceptance speech for the Benjamin Bradlee Editor of the Year Award.  Watch his whole speech here:

Check out more videos from the 27^th Annual Awards Dinner on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NTLPressFoundation.

Journalism Matters Because...

Prior to the National Press Foundation’s 27^th Annual Awards Dinner we wanted to hear why students and young journalists around the country believe journalism matters.  We asked them, via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, to submit brief essays on the topic.  The number of quality responses that we received was overwhelming, and the essays were judged competitively.  The contest’s winner was Liz Medhin, a television reporter and anchor at WHAM in Rochester, New York.  This is Liz reading her essay at the dinner:

Liz’s essay was one of almost 60 essays submitted to the contest.  More essay's can be read after the jump:

 

27th Annual Awards Dinner Preview

With less than 2 weeks to go, the countdown to the 27^th Annual Awards Dinner has officially begun.  Not sure what to expect?  Here’s a quick preview of the event:

The event begins at 6:30 with the pre-dinner reception.  The dinner itself begins promptly at 7:30.  We do our best to keep the dinner and awards presentation to less than two hours.  Awards are presented in between courses, which gives guests the opportunity to socialize with their table mates, enjoy their meal and listen to the awards presentations. 

Win a Trip to Washington! Tell Us Why Journalism Matters

The National Press Foundation is offering young journalists the chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to its Annual Awards Dinner February 16, 2010.  Move fast, the deadline to enter is February 8.

How to win? 

Tell us why journalism matters, in 100 words or less.  You can focus on any issue or platform you like.  The winning entry will be the one that best captures the importance of journalism in today's society.  Entries must be submitted through our online form.  The author of the winning essay will receive round-trip air-fare and one night hotel stay in Washington to attend the National Press Foundation’s 27^th Annual Awards Dinner on February 16, 2010.  One of the largest media dinners in Washington, the National Press Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner brings together more than 1,000 journalists, media professionals, policy makers and corporate executives.  The contest winner will be seated at the head table, receive recognition at the dinner, and the winning entry will be read during the evening’s program.

Entry into the Journalism Matters Essay Contest is open to U.S. residents age 18-40.   Submission must be received no later than February 7, 2010.   If you have questions, please contact seth@nationalpress.org. No calls, please.  Employees and current or former board members of NPF or their families may not participate. NPF is a 501-c-3.  See our website at www.nationalpress.org. 

Thank You to Our Recent New Table Buyers

The National Press Foundation would like to thank the organizations that purchased a tables recently for the 27^th Annual Awards Dinner:

Bristol-Myers Squibb

CBS News/60 Minutes

Grocery Manufacturers Association

T-Mobile USA

Washington Examiner

The Annual Awards Dinner is the National Press Foundation’s largest source of unrestricted revenue.  By helping to defray our costs, our dinner supporters ensure that we are able to reach more journalists each year through our no-cost training programs.  To attend the dinner, click on the “make a purchase” or “request an invoice” buttons linked at the top of the column on the left.  For more information, contact Kerry Buker at Kerry@nationalpress.org.

Journalism Matters: NPF Director of Programs Linda Topping Streitfeld

"Journalism Matters" is the theme of the 27th Annual Awards Dinner.  In order to build excitement around the theme, we've been collecting different people's thoughts on why they think journalism is important.  Linda Topping Streitfeld, the Director of Programs at the National Press Foundation shared her thoughts in the following video message:

We want you to tell us why journalism matters to you.  To share your thoughts, please fill out our online form. We will be reading your responses and will be featuring some of them on this blog, so keep your ideas coming!

Social Media, the NPF Awards Dinner and You

Why does journalism matter to you?  We want you, our supporters, to weigh-in.  Send a message on twitter using the hashtag #JournalismMatters and we may feature it on this blog.  You can also use the tag #NPFDinner for your general tweets about the dinner or to congratulate our award winners.

As you may have noticed, this year we have stepped-up our use of social media to disseminate information about the 2010 NPF Awards Dinner.  In addition to posting daily on this blog, we are also using Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube to generate excitement about the dinner.  The great thing about social media is that it allows everybody to be involved in the lead up to the dinner.  The more involvement we have from our supporters, the better, so please leave us comments, tag your tweets and share your thoughts about the dinner!

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Wins 2009 Excellence in Online Journalism Award

Washington, December 1, 2009: The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has been awarded the 2009 Excellence in Online Journalism Award from the National Press Foundation.

Receiving Honorable Mention certificates in the annual contest were ClimateWire; AP Mobile; Washingtonpost.com; and CNN.com.

Journalism Matters: Last year’s Editor of the Year Award Winner Leonard Downie, Jr.

“Journalism matters” is the theme for the 2010 Annual Awards Dinner but award winners every year often capture the “journalism matters” sentiment in their acceptance speeches.  Leonard Downie, Jr., the former executive editor of the Washington Post, was honored with the Benjamin Bradlee Editor of the Year Award at the 26^th Annual Awards Dinner last February.  In his acceptance speech he expressed his commitment to accountability journalism.  Currently, Downie is the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.  In his new post, Downie is working with academic partners to assess and influence the changes that journalism is undergoing in this new digital age.   A clip of Leonard Downie, Jr.’s acceptance speech at last year’s dinner is available below. 

NPF Thanks Its Early Dinner Supporters

The National Press Foundation would like the following organizations for supporting the 27^th Annual Awards Dinner and showing that journalism matters.  The Awards Dinner is NPF’s largest sources of unrestricted revenue.  Proceeds from the dinner help to defray our costs, ensuring that we are able to reach more journalists each year through our no-cost training programs.  A list of 2010’s early dinner supporters can be found in the extended post.