WHCA Tips Hat to Fournier, Page

Speaking of the White House Correspondents Association dinner, the WHCA has announced who will be taking home awards and giant three figure checks from the gala.

For the fourth time, the AP’s Ron Fournier, who is currently spending a semester at Harvard (and just landed a book deal to talk about Applebee’s and the election), won the Merriman Smith Award for outstanding presidential coverage under deadline pressure for his stories on Election 2004. Fournier wrote over 67 leads on election night for various stories and write-thrus. (Fournier is pictured left accepting the same award in 1998)

USA Today’s Susan Page won the Aldo Beckman Award, which “recognizes repeated excellence in White House coverage,” a citation that certainly fits Page.

And after being shut out of the Pulitzers, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle won the Edgar A. Poe Award for their reporting on series of stories on steroids.

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