John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism

The 2008 winner of the John Chancellor Award will be announced in early September.

The $25,000 annual John Chancellor Award, administered by the Columbia University Journalism School, recognizes and rewards a journalist whose reporting over time shows courage, integrity, curiosity and intelligence and epitomizes the role of journalism in a free society. The Chancellor Award honors the legacy of John Chancellor, the pioneering television correspondent and longtime anchor for NBC News. This award is intended to honor the sustained achievement of a single journalist, who may not be well-known nationally, but whose cumulative accomplishments are exemplary.

“This award is very special because it recognizes what I think of as members of the infantry—reporters who do the heavy lifting, even though they don’t personally have the high public profile that some journalists in print and broadcast media attain. Their commitment to reporting difficult stories over the long haul, often against the conventional grain, is a tremendous public service, and the example of endurance and honor that they bring to the profession is a reminder of what journalism is about at its best."

- David Halberstam, founding member of the Chancellor Award Selection Committee

The complete 2007 Chancellor Award ceremony honoring Ofra Bikel and a tribute to the late David Halberstam

Past Winners

Documentary Filmmaker Ofra Bikel Wins 2007 John Chancellor Award

In a career of over 30 years as a documentary filmmaker, Ofra Bikel's work has freed more innocent prisoners than many professionals in the criminal justice system. Powerful, persuasive and relentless, her documentaries reveal hard truths about an American justice system that is at times vulnerable to ambition, racism, inertia, pride, haste, hysteria, corruption and a host of other human frailties. Bikel, who has worked exclusively for the PBS series FRONTLINE since its inception in 1983, was presented with the 2007 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism at a black tie gala at Columbia University's Low Memorial Library on Tuesday, November 13, 2007.