Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains her longevity on the Supreme Court
In 2018 Justice Ginsburg joined us after a Columbia Journalism School screening of the 2019 duPont-Columbia Award winning film in her name, RBG, in the last minutes of this panel: CNN exec Amy Entelis, Directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen, moderated by Professor June Cross. She was charming, erudite and funny, all at the end of an exhausting day. She explained her longevity on the Supreme Court in this clip. RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
duPont Winning Doc Series Eyes on the Prize an Enduring Landmark Broadcast
In 1988 “Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965” won a duPont gold baton - a special award given for exemplary, comprehensive bodies of programming. The series from PBS station WGBH was a six-part broadcast built on archival footage that told the story of the men and women who marched, protested, and fought for civil rights during the 1950s and 60s.
Eyes on the Prize was the culmination of decades of work and stands, over thirty years later, as an enduring landmark broadcast. The series showed the visceral challenges faced during the struggle for basic rights: men and women turned away by armed deputies when trying to register to vote, peaceful activists beaten and scorned at lunch counters, and more.
At the time the series was broadcast, the fight for civil rights in the United States was far from over. The definitive story of our present national reckoning may not be told for many years to come. However, if you’ve done reporting you’re proud of on the contemporary movements for racial equity and justice, the duPont awards are open for submissions, but only until 11:59pm TONIGHT! Visit duPont.org for more info and to submit. #duPont2021.
Multiple duPont Winner Ira Glass on the Practical Advantages of Winning a duPont
“It helps you convince your bosses to take a risk the next time you want to do something that’s going to take a lot of time and money.” - Multi-year duPont winner Ira Glass
This American Life has won multiple duPont Awards. To name a few: In 2014, for the two part series “Harper High School” which spent a year exploring the impact of gun violence on the students and staff of a Chicago high school. In 2016, for the groundbreaking first season of the investigative podcast Serial. Most recently, in 2019, for a two part series that told the story of an Alabama town with an ever-growing immigrant population.
Have you done investigative radio or podcast work? Submissions for the 2021 duPont-Columbia Awards close TONIGHT at 11:59pm. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. #duPont2021
2020 duPont Awards Host Christiane Amanpour on the Award's Importance
"The duPont Award is for us in terms of broadcast like the Pulitzer is for print."
2020 duPont host, and multiple duPont winner, Christiane Amanpour.
Amanpour won a duPont silver baton in 1994 for her on-the-ground coverage of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. She won again in 2009 for a six-part series "God's Warriors" about the global rise of religious extremism.
Have you done exemplary international reporting? Submissions for the 2021 awards close TONIGHT at 11:59pm. Visit duPont.org for more info and to submit. #duPont2021
duPont 2021 Submission Deadline TONIGHT
Today is the LAST DAY to submit work for the 2021 duPont-Columbia Awards. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. The EXTENDED deadline is 11:59pm July 14. Eligibility has also been extended. Work appearing after July 1 and on or before July 14 is eligible.
Read more about why we took the extraordinary step of extending our deadline in this statement from duPont Awards director, Lisa R. Cohen: https://news.columbia.edu/news/duponts-journalists-covid-deadline-extension
2010 duPont Winner Katie Couric on the Meaning of the Award
“To be given this award is a validation of pure journalism.”
- 2010 duPont winner Katie Couric.
Couric won a silver baton for her series of now-legendary interviews with then-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Presenting the award to Couric, the late Gwen Eiffel said they were “the kind of interviews that make any broadcaster think ‘I wish I’d asked that question just that way.’”
Have you done local, national, or international political reporting with an impact? Submissions for the 2021 duPonts close soon! Visit duPont.org and submit by 11:59pm July 14. The eligibility deadline has also been extended to include work done after July 1 and on or before July 14.
duPont Winning Series "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" Re-frames American History
Have you done reporting that reframes accepted historical narratives? The duPont awards have EXTENDED the submission deadline to July 14! Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit.
In 2015, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. won a duPont award for his sweeping six-part PBS documentary series, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.” The series began with the origins of slavery in Africa over 500 years ago and drew an historical throughline to the present day. One of the central questions the series addressed was why a country, at the time led by a Black president, remained so deeply divided by race.
Much like the #1619Project from The New York Times, the series showed a view of American history centered on the Black experience. One especially wrenching part of the series addressed the fact that the United States was the only so-called new world country in which the enslaved population grew over time. 400,000 people were imported from Africa, but the enslaved population was almost 4 million by the time of the civil war. The series also touched on more contemporary phenomena, like the rise of the Black Panther Party as a response to police harassment.
All episodes of “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” are available to stream along with digital extras from the series: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/video/
2020 duPont Winners Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin on the Meaning of their Win
“The duPonts really ground us in that boots on the ground journalism.”
2020 duPont-Columbia award-winner Lindsey Seavert Kare.
Have you done impactful education reporting or made a deeply reported documentary? The duPont awards have EXTENDED the submission deadline for the 2021 awards to July 14! Eligibility has also been extended to include work appearing after July 1 and on or before July 14. Visit duPont.org for more information and to enter. #duPont2021
Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin won a 2020 duPont award for their documentary Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary. The film told the story of a year at a struggling Minneapolis elementary school, exploring issues of race and poverty. It also profiled the school’s exceptional principal, Mauri Friestleben whose personal history informs her dedication to her students. Principal Friestleben even traveled to New York with Lindsey, Ben, and the team from @KARE 11 to accept the duPont silver baton. While in New York she also appeared on the Today show. This was KARE 11’s first feature length documentary.
2014 duPont Winner "The Barber of Birmingham" Shows the Power of Everyday Activists
Have you done meaningful reporting on movements for social change and racial justice? The duPont awards have EXTENDED the submission deadline for the 2021 awards to July 14! Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. #duPont2021
In 2014, the documentary “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” won a duPont-Columbia award. The film told the story of James Armstrong and highlighted other men and women who risked their lives and livelihoods for social change. These men and women are not often remembered in history books, but they are the ordinary citizens whose tireless, courageous work ensured meaningful change.
In one powerful section of the film, Armstrong and others reminisce about the questions they were asked by registrars when they attempted to register to vote. Restrictions on Black voting were a reaction to the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870. They remained in place in many southern states until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. One woman, Amelia Boynton Robinson, who was 97 when “The Barber of Birmingham” was made, recounted the obstacles to registration: “You have to have property, a clean record, you have to know the constitution, and you have to have two white men...to vouch for you.”
Armstrong, who carried the American flag at the head of the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 on what became known as Bloody Sunday, said of his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement: “The worst thing a man can do is live for nothing. I want to live for a purpose.” Armstrong carried the flag across the Edmund Pettus Bridge every year on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Those who were with Armstrong in 1965 often commented that, despite the brutal violence unleashed on the peaceful marchers by armed police, “He never let that flag hit the ground.”
Armstrong was jailed during the civil rights movement, but lived long enough to vote for Barack Obama and to see him elected president. Sadly, Armstron
CNN's Nic Robertson on Journalist's Responsibility as Witnesses
“That price is to...open the window for the audience...so they can understand the world around them.” - Nic Robertson of CNN on the responsibility of journalists to communicate what they witness.
Robertson, along with Clarissa Ward, won a 2020 duPont-Columbia award for @CNN’s coverage of the murder of Jamal #Khashoggi. The international team of CNN correspondents conducted collaborative reporting that continually broke stories revealing new elements to the story of Khashoggi’s death - such as the use of a body double and the extent of the Saudi government’s involvement.
The deadline to submit for the 2021 duPont awards has been EXTENDED! Visit duPont.org by July 14 to enter work. #duPont2021
duPont Winner Ailsa Chang of WNYC Reports on Alleged Illegal Searches by NYPD
Have you done reporting on the police that produced results? The duPont-Columbia awards have extended our submission deadline to July 14! The eligibility period has also been extended for programming that appears after July 1 and on or before July 14. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. #duPont2021
In 2012, Ailsa Chang of WNYC won a duPont award for her series “Alleged Illegal Searches” which investigated marijuana arrests and their connection to illegal searches by the NYPD.
At the time of her reports, possession of small amounts of marijuana not in public view and not being smoked was not a crime, but a violation which would result in a ticket and fine. Chang began investigating marijuana arrest when she realized the majority of arrests were happening in neighborhoods that were heavily policed - where residents should theoretically know better than to have marijuana in public view. In the course of her reporting she spoke to current and former police officers, dozens of young people searched by the police, and with prosecutors and defense attorneys. Her interviews showed that the NYPD was using “stop and frisk” laws to conduct searches.
One young man profiled in “Alleged Illegal Searches by NYPD” described having marijuana taken from his pocket by an officer when he was stopped, frisked, and searched without consent. He was then charged with the crime of having marijuana in public view. In the two episodes of “Alleged Illegal Searches” lawyers also speak to the common practice of these searches.
Chang’s reporting also spotlighted racial disparities in marijuana arrests. Black and Latino New Yorkers were more likely to be arrested for marijuana. After these reports aired, legislators in New York introduced a bill to disincentivise aggressive searches by police.
Listen to part one of “Alleged Illegal Searches by NYPD” here: https://www.wnyc.org/story/126232-marijuana-arrests/
Listen to par
WNYC Investigates NYPD (Mis)use of Force in duPont Winning Series
Have you done deep reporting on police misconduct? The duPont awards have EXTENDED their submission deadline to July 14. The eligibility period has also been extended for programming that appears after July 1 and on or before July 14. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit.
On July 14, 2014, Eric Garner was choked to death by a New York City Police Officer. In the wake of his passing, WNYC began an investigation into the New York Police Department’s use of force practices. The resulting series, “NYPD: Bruised” won a 2016 duPont-Columbia award.
A team of reporters including Robert Ian Lewis, Xander Landen, and Noah Veltman, compiled public data to gain a deeper understanding of the volume and nature of citizen complaints against the NYPD. One of their findings was that, while most officers had almost no civilian complaints, about 1,000 officers were the subjects of 10 or more complaints each, including the officer who choked Eric Garner to death.
Analysis of public data also showed that in 55,000 arrests, the top charge was resisting arrest meaning that the interaction with the officer ended up being a more serious infraction than the original alleged wrongdoing. They also uncovered instances where officer’s reports conflicted with audio recordings of civilian interactions, sometimes obfuscating the ways in which officers escalated a situation. This series blended personal stories with data analysis to show systemic issues with how NYPD officers used force in their work.
Listen to the series, here: https://www.wnyc.org/series/nypd-bruised
Clarissa Ward of CNN on the Meaning of the duPont Award
Have you done breaking news reporting or been part of a team whose work has had impact? Visit duPont.org and submit your best work today! The submission deadline has been EXTENDED to July 14. Eligibility period is also extended for programming that appears after July 1 and before or on July 14.
“When you win a duPont it means something...not for the award but for what the award represents - doing work that is meaningful.”
Clarissa Ward won her second duPont silver baton in 2020 as part of the team of CNN reporters and producers who collaboratively reported on the murder of Saudi jouranalist Jamal Khashoggi. Ward and the CNN team broke story after story about the Saudi government’s involvement in Khashoggi’s death, most dramatically, reports on the use of a body double to obfuscate the fact that Khashoggi never left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Ward won her first duPont in 2013 for fearless reporting in Syria where she was on the frontlines of the ongoing conflict.
duPont-Winning Investigation into Police Referrals from Bay Area Schools
Have you done long term investigative work that inspired change? The duPont awards have EXTENDED the submission period to July 14! The eligibility period is also extended - programming that appears after July 1 and before or on July 14 is now eligible. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. #duPont2021.
In 2018, Bigad Shaban and Michael Bott of NBC Bay Area won a duPont award for “Arrested at School” a two year investigation into the overuse of school police officers to discipline students. Many children who interact with police in school end up with criminal records for what, in many instances, would be categorized as “childish misbehavior.”
The investigation included public records requests submitted to over 160 school districts and months spent collecting and analyzing discipline statistics from 20 school districts in the Bay Area. In the 2013-2014 school year, those 20 Bay Area districts had 1,841 police referrals. Black students represented 9% of the student population in those districts, but comprised 16% of police referrals. Children with disabilities were 10% of the population, but made up 27% of referrals. Many of these students were arrested for minor infractions. One 13 year-old student was arrested for scratching his name into a sidewalk.
Shaban and Bott’s reporting helped spur security changes at schools in the Bay Area and drew attention to the nationwide practice of schools involving law enforcement, often with little guidance for what situations warranted police engagement.
2020 duPont Winner "Reconstruction: America After the Civil War" is Full of Valuable Lessons
Have you done work that provides historical context for the present? The duPont awards have EXTENDED the submission period to July 14! The eligibility period is also extended for programming that appears after July 1 and before or on July 14. Visit duPont.org to submit.
Historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. won a 2020 duPont award for his series "Reconstruction: America after the Civil War," from PBS and McGee Media.
The multi-part documentary shone a light on the period between 1865 and 1877 when the federal government attempted to rebuild the South and establish meaningful reforms. “Reconstruction” won a #duPont award because it not noly drew important connections between the Reconstruction Era and the present, but it also highlighted the flourishing of Black excellence in the late 1860s and early 1870s.
The first Black governor in the United States was P.B.S. Pinchblack of Louisiana, who served as Louisiana’s 12 Lieutenant Governor and then, in late 1872 and early 1873, briefly served as governor. Blanche Bruce and Hiram Revels were the first Black men to serve in the senate. Revels was elected in 1870 and Bruce in 1874. Reconstruction ended in 1877 when Rutherford B. Hayes - the first president to win the electoral college and lose the popular vote - made a deal that ensured he would be president, and that the federal troops managing reconstruction would leave the south.
After the 12 years of progress and promise, what followed were decades of Jim Crow laws and white terror including lynchings, the formation of the modern day KKK, and massacres like that which destroyed the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, OK in 1921. “Reconstruction” premiered at a time when voter-suppression, blackface minstrelsy, and a resurgence of white supremacist violence were making headlines. Gates showed how the roots of these phenomena were found in a neglected, misunderstood chapter of national history.
Oh! And the whole series is available to stream for FREE!
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Michael Barbaro of The Daily on What the duPont Stands For
We have EXTENDED the submission deadline for the 2021 duPont awards to JULY 14! Eligibility has also been extended - any work done after July 1 and before or on July 14 is now eligible.
Winning a duPont means, “you didn’t just tell a story -- you told THE story,” according to 2018 duPont winner and 2020 duPont ceremony host Michael Barbaro.
Barbaro won a silver baton in 2018 for The New York Times' blockbuster podcast The Daily. The show takes listeners deeper into the stories of the day and brings investigative journalism to life. In one memorable episode for which the duPont was awarded, New York Times reporter Mike Schmidt commandeered the phone at a Kinkos to call in and tell Barbaro about the story he was working on. He'd learned that the president had asked then-FBI director James Comey to dinner and requested Comey pledge his loyalty.
Barbaro returned to the duPont stage in Columbia University in the City of New York's Low Memorial Library to host the 2020 awards earlier this year.
The 2021 duPont awards are STILL open for submissions! Send in your best work by July 14. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. #duPont2021
duPont Awards Submission Deadline EXTENDED!
The duPont awards has EXTENDED the submission deadline to JULY 14! The eligibility period is also extended - programming that appears after July 1 and before or on July 14 is now eligible.
The duPont awards will honor local, national, and international stories that are told through broadcast, documentary, radio, and online multimedia.
For more information and to submit your entry visit duPont.org. #duPont2021
Jelani Cobb on the Value of Continually Telling Hard Truths
“If you tell enough people the truth...it can actually make change in the world.” Jelani Cobb accepting a duPont- Columbia Award on behalf of Ava DuVernay for her documentary 13TH
The film, available on Netflix, fluidly connected the history of slavery to the contemporary system of mass incarceration which disproportionately imprisons people of color, especially Black people.
Have you done reporting on the criminal justice system? Visit duPont.org to submit by midnight tonight! #duPont2021
Bill Whitaker of CBS on the Role of Journalism
“Our president has called journalists ‘enemy of the people.’ I say we’re public servants.” 2019 duPont winner Bill Whitaker.
Whitaker won his silver baton for joint reporting done by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post on the role pharmaceutical companies played in the opioid epidemic and the DEA's response.
You can watch Whitaker's duPont-winning reports here:
The Whistleblower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd-43K-rdQA
Too Big to Fail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55POy5YJ5Q
Have you done groundbreaking reporting in the public interest? Visit duPont.org to submit for the 2021 duPont Awards. #duPont2021
Kai Wright on "Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice"
“Our podcast tried to shoot the juvenile justice system through the lens of the kids who are in it.” - 2019 duPont-Columbia award winner, Kai Wright of WNYC.
Wright’s series, “Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice” explored the human side of the juvenile justice system and showed the long term effects it has on young people. According to The Prison Policy Initiative, “On any given day, over 48,000 Youth in the United States are confined in facilities away from home as a result of juvenile justice or criminal justice involvement.”
The juvenile justice system disproportionately impacts Black youth. 42% of boys and 35% of girls in the juvenile justice system are Black - only 14% of youth in the United States are Black. Black youth are also disproportionately referred to adult courts. 68% of confined youth are held in locked facilities including almost 5,000 held in adult prisons and jails. The United States also has the highest youth incarceration rates in the world. “Caught” brought these statistics to life with gripping personal stories and tense intimate scenes.
You can find the series here: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/caught
Have you done reporting that humanized opaque systems and brought institutionalized inequalities to light? The duPont-Columbia awards are open for submissions! Visit duPont.org to submit. #duPont2021
2021 duPont-Columbia Awards Open for Submissions
Only two weeks left to send in your best original audio, video, and online multimedia reporting! Submissions for the 2021 duPont-Columbia awards close on July 1. Visit duPont.org for more information and to submit. #duPont2021
Nima Elbagir on Why Journalism Matters
“I grew up under a dictatorship. I know why journalism matters.” - 2019 duPont-Columbia Award-winner, Nima Elbagir, CNN Senior International Correspondent.
In 2019, Elbagir won a duPont for her fearless work exposing human rights abuses in Africa. Her reporting included a trip to a modern day slave market, reports on child labor in Congo, and uncovering a smuggler’s network in Nigeria. Her reporting exposed and documented rarely seen exploitation and corruption.
Have you reported on human rights abuses? The duPont-Columbia awards are open for submissions. Visit duPont.org to find more information on how to submit. #duPont2021
JACK AND CARISSA SPEAKING THE TRUTH
CONGRATULATIONS to duPont Fellows Carissa Quiambao and Jack Rossiter-Munley - today they graduate as part of the singular Columbia Journalism School Class of 2020. We are so proud of them and grateful for all their hard work. Here's a clip from their moment in the spotlight during the #duPont2020 duPont Awards ceremony.
MacNeil/Lehrer 1978 duPont Award winning reporting.
It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of PBS' veteran reporter Jim Lehrer, who won a duPont Award in 1978 for coverage of a series of stories including this one on "Koreagate," in which South Korea attempted to illegally influence U.S. Congressmen. RIP Jim Lehrer.
Announcing the 2020 duPont-Columbia Winners
Congratulations to this year's inspiring winners! See Columbia Journalism School's page at http://bit.ly/duPont2020Announcement for more info and the full list. #duPont2020 #ColumbiaJourn
The Rachel Maddow Show “Bag Man”
Michigan Radio “Believed”
APM Reports for In the Dark’s Supreme Court coverage
FRONTLINE | PBS for “The Facebook Dilemma” and “Documenting Hate”
Netflix “The Bleeding Edge”
PBS for “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War”
POV for “The Apology” and “Dark Money”
PBS NewsHour for reporting from inside Yemen
60 Minutes for reporting on family separation at the US/Mexico border
CNN for coverage of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder
KARE 11 for investigating veterans affairs and their original documentary Love Them First
WSOC-TV for coverage of election tampering in North Carolina
7 Eyewitness News WKBW for their investigation into sexual abuse in the Buffalo diocese for their investigation into sexual abuse in the Buffalo diocese
Katie Couric on that Sarah Palin interview.
Only two more days until the 2020 duPont-Columbia announce at www.duPont.org In the meantime, enjoy Katie Couric's words of wisdom. #duPont2020
2019 duPont-Columbia winner on his motivation to always do better.
“You have to do better”is the mantra that keeps #dupont2019 winner CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede going during the toughest times in journalism. Check out his emotional moment onstage and the origin story of his credo - it has a twist - and then enter your best reporting for #duPont2020 at www.duPont.org The deadline is coming up July 1!
Betsy West on the how to meet the challenges journalists face
RBG director and #dupont2019 award winner Betsy West isn’t fazed by the challenges journalists face. “I just like finding out the truth.” Find out what drives her and submit your best work that exposes the truth at (link: http://www.dupont.org) dupont.org by Jul 1. #duPont2020
Enter the 2020 duPont-Columbia Awards. Deadline Jul 1
We are now open for submissions for #duPont2020. Deadline Jul 1. See duPont.org for info and to enter. Watch and be inspired to enter your best work from Jul 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019.
The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honor excellence in broadcast & digital journalism. Administered by Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, the duPont Awards are one of the most prestigious broadcast awards.
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