Awards

What do CBS' Bob Schieffer, PBS' Gwen Ifill, US News & World Report's Kenneth Walsh and the Bureau of National Affairs' Toby McIntosh have in common?

All will be inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists' DC Pro Chapter's Hall of Fame on June 9th. WaPo columnist Courtland Milloy will also receive the Chapter's 2009 Distinguished Service Award at this event. More details here.

National Journal's James Kitfield was named this year's winner of the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense.

Kitfield won the prize in 1990 and 1995 and is the is the only reporter to have won it more than once. He will receive this year's award, which comes with a $5,000 prize, at a June 1 ceremony in Washington.

NBC's Brian Williams hosted the Peabody Awards on May 18th in New York. Winners included Washington Week's Gwen Ifill, the NYT website, and CNN for their "Coverage of 2008 Presidential Primary and Debates." NPR snagged three. Click here for the full list of winners.

Meet the Press' Betsy Fischer and CNBC's Erin Burnett are just two of the five ladies being honored tomorrow evening at Running Start's annual "Women to Watch Awards." The event will be held at the National Press Club to honor some of the most impressive young women in the country.

Other women who made the list this year are Julie Gilbert, Founder and CEO of WOLF Means Business, WH Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen, and Tammy Duckworth of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dee Dee Myers, Dana Perino, Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, Dina Habib Powell and Liz Haesler will all be on hand to introduce the honorees.

For more information about the organization or tomorrow's awards, visit Running Start.

NPR's Michele Norris, host of All Things Considered, has been named "Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

NABJ is specifically recognizing Norris for her coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign.

NPR News is also a finalist for seven 2009 NABJ "Salute to Excellence" Awards in the radio documentary, feature, news and new media-interactive categories for a range of stories. Finalists include reporter Allison Keyes and foreign correspondent Gwen Thompkins.

The winners will be announced on August 8, 2009. For more information, visit www.nabj.org.

Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor Bill Kristol is the third of four 2009 Bradley Prize winners, as announced today by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The award will be presented in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in June and includes a $250,000 stipend.

In a release, Foundation President & CEO Michael W. Grebe said, "The Bradley Foundation selected William Kristol for his outstanding achievements in a wide range of activities affecting the development of public policy from national and international perspectives... He is a widely respected conservative leader."

Kristol's selection was based on nominations solicited from more than 100 "prominent individuals across the country" and chosen by a selection committee, also according to the release.

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists were announced this afternoon at Columbia University. NYT was awarded five Pulitzers, more than any other newspaper this year.

NYT won staff awards for "Breaking News Reporting" for its coverage of the Gov. Eliot Spitzer sex scandal, and reporter David Barstow won "Investigative Reporting" for a piece on the relationship between the Pentagon and television military analysts.

Eugene Robinson, also an MSNBC contributor, scooped up WaPo's only Pulitzer this year for commentary.

JOURNALISM:

Public Service - Las Vegas Sun

Breaking News Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Investigative Reporting - David Barstow of The New York Times

Explanatory Reporting - Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times

Local Reporting - Detroit Free Press Staff and Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ

National Reporting - St. Petersburg Times Staff

International Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Feature Writing - Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times

Commentary - Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post

Criticism - Holland Cotter of The New York Times

Editorial Writing - Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY

Editorial Cartooning - Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune

Breaking News Photography - Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald

Feature Photography - Damon Winter of The New York Times

You can check out finalists here and Pulitzers awarded in "Letters, Drama and Music" after the jump...

UPDATE- Check out the NYT Twitter about the wins here.

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Seattle Times reporters Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry are this year's recipients of the Michael Kelly Award for their series exposing the criminal histories of members of a Rose Bowl-winning University of Washington football team.

The award was presented by Atlantic Media Company chairman David Bradley at a dinner last night at Atlantic's headquarters.

In a statement, the award judges said Armstrong and Perry displayed "the commitment to truth that will alienate readers, risk advertising accounts, and jeopardize a newspaper's standing during already precarious times."

From the release: the $25,000 award is given annually to a journalist whose work exemplifies a quality that animated Kelly's own career: the fearless pursuit and expression of truth. Kelly, who was the editor of two Atlantic Media publications, The Atlantic and National Journal, was killed while covering the war in Iraq in 2003.

Finalists included NYT's Barry Bearak and Celia Dugger, Fast Company's Richard Behar and Vanity Fair's Peter Godwin. And judges included NJ's Carl Cannon and Charles Green, Army Times' Kelly Kennedy (also a Michael Kelly Award finalist last year), VF's Cullen Murphy and freelance writer Loretta Tofani, (last year's winner of the Michael Kelly Award).

NYT columnist William Safire will be honored with the English-Speaking Union's Excellence in the Written Word Award this evening.

The award will be presented a reception this evening hosted by British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald and his wife at their residence. Sources say this reception is "among the most anticipated events on the ESU calendar."

Safire was chosen for his work as an author, correspondent, commentator, and winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

From the release: Mark Olshaker, Executive Director of ESU Washington, who will present the award to Mr Safire, said: "When we decided to initiate an Award for Excellence in the English Language, we could think of no more logical or appropriate first recipient than William Safire, a man who has shown us so many ways to use the language with excellence that he nearly defies classification."

USA Today announced their "Best of 2008" awards yesterday. The awards are presented to outstanding staffers in a variety of categories. See the 2008 winners below:

Staffer of the Year
Winner: Lee Horwich - for outstanding multiplatform coverage of the historic Presidential election.

Impact Award
Winner: Cynthia Robinson - for managing deadlines while accommodating Editorial needs.

Across the USA
Winner: Team that produced the 50-state Report on High Gas Prices

Blogs and Community
Winners (tie): Gene Sloan for the online cruise community and Bill Keveney and Bruce Schwartz for their groundbreaking "Lost" package

Consumer
Winner: Gary Stoller for his guide to airline fees

Explanatory
Winners (tie): David Lynch for his package about the economic crisis and lessons learned from Japan's experiences in the 1990s and the Money team for their coverage of the financial meltdown on Wall Street

Major Events
Winners(tie): Political team that produced our up-to-the-minute election coverage that was rich with detail, color and analysis both in print and online & Life entertainment team that contributed to our multidimensional and entertaining Oscar package

Opinion
Winner: Dan Carney for his editorials on the presidential race and "Who's responsible for the nation's economic mess?"

Scoops
Winner: Gregg Zoroya for his scoop revealing that the Pentagon had deployed 43,000 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan that were declared "medically unfit for combat"

The rest of the winners after the jump.

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