The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards
Honoring Excellence in Broadcast and Digital News
ABOUT THE AWARDS
For 70 years, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards have recognized excellence in broadcast journalism. Regarded today as the most prestigious prizes in broadcast news, the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes, the duPont-Columbia Awards bring the best in broadcast and digital journalism to professional and public attention and honor those who produce it. The duPont-Columbia Awards engender a collective spirit for the industry and inform the public of the contributions news organizations make to their communities and to the world.
Every January, the duPont-Columbia University Awards are celebrated at Columbia’s Low Library in an elegant, private ceremony. Hosted by some of the country’s leading broadcast journalists, the evening features highlights of the award-winning reporting. Winners of the Awards receive gold or silver batons designed by the late American architect Louis I. Kahn. The batons are inscribed with the famous observation about the power of television by the late Edward R. Murrow:
"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box." Address to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Chicago, October 15, 1958.
HISTORY OF THE AWARDS
Jessie Ball duPont created the awards as a memorial to her husband, who died in 1935. Her goal was to honor Alfred I. duPont's dedication to progressive reform and to freedom of information in the public interest by recognizing the "essential and patriotic service" that radio and its commentators provided during the early years of World War II. The criteria she established then still hold:
"...to honor distinguished and meritorious performance of public service by aggressive, consistently excellent and accurate gathering and reporting of news; the presentation of expert, informed and reliable interpretation of news and opinion; and encouragement of initiative, integrity and public service."
The programs that have won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards document history as it happens. They have captured everything from battlefront reports and commentary to coverage of social issues, from news of the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and Afghanistan to economics, science, and the environment, and from global events to small-town stories of ordinary people.
As technology changed, the duPont Awards expanded to include television, and later cable programming. As the forms of television and radio journalism have multiplied, the Awards have responded by honoring investigative series, magazine programs, documentaries, independent and digital productions.
Every January, the duPont-Columbia University Awards are celebrated at Columbia’s Low Library in an elegant, private ceremony. Hosted by some of the country’s leading broadcast journalists, the evening features highlights of the award-winning reporting. Winners of the Awards receive gold or silver batons designed by the late American architect Louis I. Kahn. The batons are inscribed with the famous observation about the power of television by the late Edward R. Murrow:
"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box." Address to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Chicago, October 15, 1958.
HISTORY OF THE AWARDS
Jessie Ball duPont created the awards as a memorial to her husband, who died in 1935. Her goal was to honor Alfred I. duPont's dedication to progressive reform and to freedom of information in the public interest by recognizing the "essential and patriotic service" that radio and its commentators provided during the early years of World War II. The criteria she established then still hold:
"...to honor distinguished and meritorious performance of public service by aggressive, consistently excellent and accurate gathering and reporting of news; the presentation of expert, informed and reliable interpretation of news and opinion; and encouragement of initiative, integrity and public service."
The programs that have won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards document history as it happens. They have captured everything from battlefront reports and commentary to coverage of social issues, from news of the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and Afghanistan to economics, science, and the environment, and from global events to small-town stories of ordinary people.
As technology changed, the duPont Awards expanded to include television, and later cable programming. As the forms of television and radio journalism have multiplied, the Awards have responded by honoring investigative series, magazine programs, documentaries, independent and digital productions.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Abi Wright, Director
Beth Canipe, Program Manager
Columbia University Journalism School
2950 Broadway MC3805
New York, NY 10027
Ph: 212-854-5047
Fax: 212-854-3148
dupontawards@jrn.columbia.edu