Alfred I. duPont Awards

05/31/2019

CNN’s Nima Elbagir on risking her life for the stories that must be told, and the challenges of being a female, Muslim journalist of color.

The latest On Assignment is up! Tune in to hear from CNN International's Nima Elbagir, #duPont2019 winner for her human rights abuses reporting. Elbagir has reported fearlessly across Africa: on a modern day slave market in Libya, child labor in Congo and a smuggler’s network in Nigeria. She talks about the tough stuff - the challenges of being a Muslim, female journalist of color, and the lighter moments - how she learned what “Selena Gomez viral” means - because she was! Special guest Columbia Journalism School Class of 2019's Sarah Moawad interviewed Elbagir at Columbia Journalism School and joins us in studio.

Listen in for more, and a reminder to enter for #duPont2020 while we’re open for submissions (until July1): http://bit.ly/nima-dupontpod

CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir has reported fearlessly across Africa. For her 2019 duPont-Columbia award winning work, she and her producer snuck into a modern day slave market in Libya, exposed child labor in Congo and trailed a smuggler’s network in Nigeria to show the w...

05/03/2019

“This is Home” Director Alexandra Shiva on embracing humor and culture clash to tell a different type of refugee story

The latest #OnAssignmentPodcast is up! Tune in to hear from Alexandra Shiva, director of the 2019 duPont Award Winning documentary This is Home, following four Syrian refugee families through their transition to life in the U.S. In this episode, Shiva talks to Prof Betsy West about bridging big-time language and cultural barriers; shoot and editing simultaneously; and making a divisive topic accessible across party lines. Anyone reporting on controversial topics can and learn from Shiva’s approach to this film! Listen in for more:
https://bit.ly/2GyUBv8 #duPont2019

2019 duPont-Columbia winner Alexandra Shiva talks navigating language and cultural barriers to make a humorous and important film about refugees that transcends party lines.

05/01/2019

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.

04/30/2019

Alfred I. duPont Awards's cover photo

03/31/2019

Raney Aronson-Rath, our final shout out to Women's History Month

FRONTLINE PBS was our final honoree at this year’s #duPont2019, winning a coveted Gold Baton, the first one awarded in a decade. Cited as both a standard bearer and innovator, the program is led by the inimitable Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath, who caps off our #WomensHistoryMonth shout outs. #WomenForTheWin!

03/29/2019

“On Her Shoulders” Director Alexandria Bombach on telling survivors’ stories.

Our #WomensHistoryMonth episode of #OnAssignmentPodcast is up, featuring a rollicking AND candid session with Director Alexandria Bombach, whose #OnHerShoulders, produced by RYOT, won a #duPont2019 Award.

The film profiles #Yazidi activist Nadia Murad and asks complex questions about covering survivors:

"There is room for us to be critical of this and to think OK. Did you need to ask that question that many times? Let's like take a step back and, did the story need to go in that direction? How many questions did you ask Nadia about the future of Yazidis or what can be done and how much did you only focus on her rapes?"

https://bit.ly/2CM05l2

In our latest, we catch up with 2019 duPont award winning director Alexandria Bombach about her latest film, “On Her Shoulders.” It’s an achingly beautiful 3-month snapshot of the life of activist and Yazidi genocide survivor, Nadia Murad. But it’s also a call to action for journalists and f...

03/25/2019

LESLEY STAHL ON TODAY'S MEDIA SALAD

CBS News' 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl started her mega-career reporting #Watergate. At Columbia Journalism School's #duPont2019 awards, she told the crowd what’s different today. Hint: It involves media salad with a dash of cayenne pepper.

Listen to her sobering yet rousing words in the final week of #WomensHistoryMonth .

03/22/2019

DUPONT 2019 HOST AILSA CHANG ON INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

For #WomensHistoryMonth we are spotlighting our two talented #duPont2019 hosts. Here NPRs Ailsa Chang, a Columbia Journalism School grad and duPont 2012 winner herself, paints a vivid picture of why investigative reporting is so very very exhausting and hard. And so very very important.

03/20/2019

Look at those smiling faces! Director Lynn Novick & Producer Sarah Botstein were the female powerhouses behind the creation of the tour de force that is WETA The Vietnam War PBS. Happy #WomensHistoryMonth to both of you!

03/19/2019

Women's History Month: duPont Awards celebrate NBC Bay Area's Vicky Nguyen

For #WomensHistoryMonth we continue celebrating: #duPont2019 winner NBC Bay Area's Vicky Nguyen's original reporting showed on-camera proof of a rise in violence against local bus drivers. Graphic images to follow. And after the report aired - changes followed too. #impact

03/15/2019

CNN's Nima Elbagir's 2019 duPont-Columbia Award winning reporting on Human Rights Abuses.

CNN Nima Elbagir is a Columbia Journalism School #duPont2019 winner for reporting on Human Rights Abuses, including from a Libyan slave auction. We're highlighting her work for #WomensHistoryMonth. Watch as she explains in starkly human terms why the watchdogging is so important.

03/14/2019

Not one, not two, not three or even four, but FIVE women up on stage accepting #dupont2019 awards for This is Home, I AM EVIDENCE and RBG! That’s what we like to see. Happy #WomensHistoryMonth to the all-women teams out there getting it done.

03/14/2019

Old Rape Kits Finally Got Tested. 64 Attackers Were Convicted.

What better way to celebrate #WomensHistoryMonth than with #progress? HBO's #2019duPont winning doc "I AM EVIDENCE" is working to #ENDTHEBACKLOG of untested rape kits. The New York Times reports 64 attackers were convicted after city law enforcement tested their kits. “Having my kit finally tested was a catalyst for hope," said Maisha Sudbeck.

Three years ago, the Manhattan district attorney’s office donated $38 million to clear the backlog of untested rape kits around the country.

03/09/2019

Women's History Month: Women Win Big - duPont Awards 2019

For #WomensHistoryMonth we'll be featuring the record number of women who were honored this #duPont2019 Columbia Journalism School. Let's let our 2019 ceremony host Lesley Stahl explain. Congrats to all

03/02/2019

“I Am Evidence” Directors Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir on the outrage of untested rape kits.

For those journalists looking to report on sensitive issues like rape and abuse, but don’t quite know where to start, our latest episode of #OnAssignmentPodcast is well worth a listen. Hear HBO “I Am Evidence” doc directors Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir talk to duPont Awards Director Lisa Cohen about the critical lessons they learned while asking sexual violence survivors to share their stories — like doing your homework ahead of time; and asking the right questions the right way. "Help me understand..." started most of them.

"I Am Evidence," produced by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Mariska Hargitay, won a 2019 Alfred I. duPont Awards for its intimate storytelling and investigative reporting, a notable award in the #MeToo era. Since the film premiered last April, twelve states have put forward legislation to count, track and test rape kits.

So be sure to listen. And watch the film on HBOGO or HBO Now. Yeah, we’re not sure the difference either.#duPont2019

bit.ly/2TnBc8Z

2019 duPont-winning Directors Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir interviewed 14 eloquent, emotional rape survivors for “I Am Evidence,” but only four women’s stories made it into the film. Tune in to this episode to hear about the painstaking choices they had to make as they navigated finding, s...

02/25/2019

Ezra Edelman accepts 2017 duPont award for OJ: Made in America

Looking back on Ezra Edelman's #dupont2017 award speech this #BlackHistoryMonth. A good reminder for journalists to do better, then & now. His series, O.J.: Made in America, succeeds where news of the day failed: showing how race, celebrity & sports intertwined in the OJ Simpson trial.

02/20/2019

We are mourning the passing this weekend of longtime NBC News Producer Marc Kusnetz, a past duPont winner and Columbia University in the City of New York Class of '66/Columbia Journalism School Class of '67. He spent twenty-six years at NBC News as senior producer, foreign news producer, field producer, and writer. His exacting standards and critical analysis made him a standout duPont screener for many years as well. He will be missed.

02/20/2019

There are so many living legends (and #dupontaward winners) to honor this year for #blackhistorymonth. Check out Columbia Journalism Schoolon Instagram to see some of our inspiring winners from last year alone.

A sneak peak: Here's Bryant Gumbel, who accepted his baton for “The Lords of the Rings,” about human rights violations during the Rio Olympics, which won Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel its 4th duPont award.

02/18/2019

Alfred I. duPont Awards

Alfred I. duPont Awards

Nearly a decade later and everything Michele Norris said in her 2010 #duPont Awards speech for NPR's “The York Project” still rings true.

“Journalists play a very important role in the national conversation on race. We can lead that conversation, we can stoke that conversation. We can shut it down. If anything I hope these series of conversations taught us that race and controversy do not always have to occupy the same branch.” #BlackHistoryMonth

02/18/2019

Michele Norris' 2010 duPont Award's Speech

Nearly a decade later and everything Michele Norris said in her 2010 #duPont Awards speech for NPR's “The York Project” still rings true.

“Journalists play a very important role in the national conversation on race. We can lead that conversation, we can stoke that conversation. We can shut it down. If anything I hope these series of conversations taught us that race and controversy do not always have to occupy the same branch.” #BlackHistoryMonth

02/06/2019

2019 duPont winners - RBG's Betsy West and Julie Cohen went to lunch this week. The #Oscars lunch. Listen to how they made their duPont winning, Oscar nominated film at #OnAssignmentPodcast https://bit.ly/2Atrjw8

02/01/2019

First-time Director Bing Liu makes things personal in his Oscar nominated film “Minding the Gap.”

“I took a journalism class and the professor had us read a The New Yorker article that had the journalist’s subjective experience in there. She was using it as an example of why this is bad or wrong. And I remember disagreeing with it.”

Hundreds of amateur skateboarding videos, six years of production and 252 shoot days later, first-time director Bing Liu has held tight to his first instincts: making a Sundance Film Festival premiered, #Oscars nominated film, where he was a main character.

Minding The Gap is a documentary about skateboarders. And so much more. We talked to Liu at a recent #filmfridays about the unique way he chose to tell a story of child abuse and domestic violence—and in doing so, how he told his own story.

Tune in to our latest On Assignment Podcast for the full episode of our edited conversation. bit.ly/2DJ1HwT
#CJSFridays #OnAssignmentPodcast

Director Bing Liu started making “Minding the Gap,” when he was 23-years-old. Now, six years later, he’s premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and snagged himself an Oscar nomination. As the countdown to the Academy Awards begins, get a behind the scenes look at how Liu made the film, plus h...

01/25/2019

Emotional, informative I AM EVIDENCE screening with Directors. Pro Tips: have one of the survivors in your film help write the sensitive interview questions for the others. Start tough questions this way: "Help us understand..." #cjsFridays #duPont2019 iamevidencemov

01/25/2019

"We Really Wanted to Understand Him": The Making Of 'Get Me Roger Stone'

More on Roger Stone backstory from #GetMeRogerStone Directors Morgan Pehme, Dylan Bank, and Dan DiMauro in last year's #OnAssignmentPodcast. https://bit.ly/2CHTAyY

"We always knew he was an absolutely deplorable person who had done horrible things to our nation. That being said, we wanted to really understand him."

01/23/2019

2019 duPont-Columbia Award Ceremony

Watch the 2019 Alfred I. duPont Awards at https://vimeo.com/313448040 CONGRATS to all the winners!

01/22/2019

The Women of “RBG.”

CONGRATULATIONS to 2019 Alfred I. duPont Awards winners Betsy West Julie Cohen Amy Entelis and the gang at RBG for their OSCAR NOM this am!! Watch them here and listen to them in our podcast https: //bit.ly/2RFXuCM

Excited to honor you tonight at duPont. #dupont2019

“RBG” Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West plus Executive Producer Amy Entelis talk the power of optimism, the challenging rules for filming in the Supreme Court, and how RBG herself reacted to seeing the film for the first time in front of a sold out audience at Sundance.

01/08/2019

Sylvia Chase, Pioneering Television Newswoman, Is Dead at 80

The duPont-Columbia Awards has lost a friend, colleague, past winner, and longtime screener. Sylvia Chase will be missed for her integrity, tenacity, journalism chops, grace, and so much more. RIP https://nyti.ms/2Rj47eb

Ms. Chase was at the forefront of a generation of women who took themselves seriously and demanded that the industry and viewers did, too.

01/07/2019

Look what just arrived! Two weeks and counting #duPont2019

01/04/2019

Nikole Hannah-Jones with Lester Holt on covering race and the reporting that won her the 2018 John Chancellor Award

“I was always torn between whether I wanted to be a historian or a journalist but ultimately decided journalists get to write history as it's happening. Journalists write for the masses; historians largely write for other history nerds.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times Magazine just won Columbia Journalism School's 2018 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Reporting.

In our latest #OnAssignmentPodcast, she talks with NBC News Lester Holt to Columbia Journalism School students about what objectivity REALLY means, covering race, and the complexities many journalists miss.

Tune in for the full episode of their edited conversation. bit.ly/2R4mOlv #ChancellorAward

NYT Magazine’s Nikole Hannah-Jones talks to NBC News anchor Lester Holt about the work that garnered her a 2018 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Reporting.

12/11/2018

Alfred I. duPont Awards's cover photo

12/11/2018

Columbia University in the City of New York

Congratulations to the 2019 duPont-Columbia winners! We'll celebrate them all at the Jan 22 ceremony. #duPont2019

Announcing the winners of the 2019 Alfred I. duPont Awards! Each are exemplary pieces of broadcast and digital journalism in the public service; one, in particular, is "notorious."

12/01/2018

Producer Will Cohen on the Fox News founder who helped create our current political landscape

“I've worked on many projects of sensitive material and I've never encountered an environment as hermetic as Fox. I've never had more people start conversations by asking, ‘are you recording this conversation?’"

In our latest podcast Jigsaw Productions Producer Will Cohen talks to Columbia Journalism School Prizes Exec Director Abi Wright about how challenging it was to find sources for the new film “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes.” #OnAssignmentPodcast

bit.ly/2TXn17N

Roger Ailes founded Fox News, kicked off #MeToo, and helped elect Donald Trump. “It was about using Roger's story to try to make sense of where we were as a country...it gave us a point of entry to a difficult, complicated, national moment,” says Producer Will Cohen. In this episode of On Assign...

11/28/2018

Believed.

Our 2017 Alfred I. duPont Awards winner Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith is at it again - important reporting on a tough subject, Larry Nassar's heinous crimes. https://believed.michiganradio.org/

Believed. A new podcast from Michigan Radio and NPR.

11/02/2018

Children Cruelly Handcuffed Win Big Settlement Against the Police in Kentucky

This image from 2018 duPont winner NBC Bay Area & reporter Bigad Shaban's "Arrested at School" was heartbreaking. Today perhaps some healing:

https://www.aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/disability-rights-and-education/children-cruelly-handcuffed-win-big?fbclid=IwAR0RREX3tHwwNt4aEqE-Q2Petz7ad1tPlEP-6_fNe0_g4HtgRLuH2f1VVXc

On Thursday, a sheriff’s office in Kentucky has agreed to pay more than $337,000 for the painful and unconstitutional handcuffing of elementary school students with disabilities. The two plaintiffs, both of whom were children of color and both of whom have disabilities, were so small that the depu...

10/26/2018

Directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen plus Exec Producer Amy Entelis talk about RBG documentary

Watch Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West plus CNN's Amy Entelis dish on what it was like to watch Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka #notoriousRBG, watch their film RBG for the first time...at the Sundance Film Festival. Then listen to the whole conversation in this week’s new podcast episode of #OnAssignmentpodcast. bit.ly/2Atrjw8