Origin of the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism

John Chancellor Award medal

Ira A. Lipman has provided a gift to Columbia University to support the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism and to fund scholarships at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The Chancellor Scholarships provide significant financial aid to students who have the leadership qualities exemplified by John Chancellor.

Ira Lipman became a lifelong friend of John Chancellor after the two met in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Chancellor, the NBC News correspondent in Little Rock, was reporting on the desegregation struggle at Central High School, and Lipman became Chancellor’s trusted source. Shining a national spotlight on this gripping regional story, the quality of Chancellor’s informed and insightful reporting propelled him to national attention. He became an anchor of NBC’s Today program, and an anchor and commentator for NBC Nightly News. Chancellor is best remembered for the depth of his reporting and his rare personal grace and civility. Lipman subsequently founded Guardsmark, LLC, which, under his guidance as chairman, is one of the world’s largest security service firms.

Established in 1995, the award was formerly administered by the University of Pennsylvania. Distinguished winners have included Linda Greenhouse of The New York Times, who has reported on the Supreme Court for a quarter century; Jim Wooten, who filed stories for ABC News from 40 countries to report on war, strife and upheaval around the world; and Bill Minor, who courageously covered the civil rights struggle in Mississippi for five decades and inspired generations of reporters.

The recipient of the $25,000 Chancellor Award is selected each year by a panel of print and broadcast journalists who look across the media landscape to identify a reporter who may not be widely known by the public, but who is highly respected within the profession for the caliber of his or her work.

“We are very pleased to be the stewards of the John Chancellor Award for outstanding achievement in journalism, which provides richly-deserved recognition and reward to a journalist who has consistently produced the highest quality reporting, day in and day out, without compromise,” said Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia’s Journalism School. “We are also grateful to Mr. Lipman for his generosity in funding the Chancellor Scholarship so the Journalism School can continue to nurture and educate talented newcomers with fire in their bellies to enter this field.”

“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,” said the late David Halberstam, an original member of the selection committee. “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.”

The Chancellor Scholarships were awarded for the first time in August 2005, and are currently providing financial assistance for two M.S. students in the Class of 2009. The criteria for scholarship assistance are financial need, academic achievement, and commitment to leadership in print or broadcast journalism.

The Columbia University Journalism School administers many of the leading journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prizes, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes for reporting on the Americas, and the National Magazine Awards. For nearly a century, the journalism school has been preparing journalists in programs that stress academic rigor, ethics, journalistic inquiry and professional practice. Founded by Joseph Pulitzer in 1912, the school offers Master of Science, Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.