The school's highest honor. The award was established in 1958 and is presented each year at commencement.
The Columbia Journalism Award is given in recognition of exceptional journalistic performance and voted by the faculty “for singular journalistic performance in the public interest.” It is presented annually to someone of overarching accomplishment and distinguished service to journalism.
Winners
2021 - Martin "Marty" Baron
2020 - Julie Brown
2019 - Maria Ressa
2018 - Ira Glass
2017- Ta-Nehisi Coates
2016 ‐ Lyse Doucet
2015 ‐ Nina Totenberg
2014 ‐ Alan Rusbridger
2013 ‐ Errol Morris
2012 ‐ Katherine Boo
2011 ‐ Al Jazeera English
2010 ‐ Gail Collins
2009 ‐ Alejandro Junco de la Vega
2008 ‐ Terry Gross
2007 ‐ Ben Bradlee
2006 ‐ Jim Amoss
2005 ‐ David Halberstam
2004 ‐ David Fanning
2003 ‐ Seymour Hersh
2002 ‐ Paul Steiger
2001 ‐ Joe Lelyveld
2000 ‐ Pete Hamill
1999 ‐ Joan Didion
1998 ‐ Carl Rowan
1997 ‐ Walter Cronkite
1996 ‐ Gene Roberts
1995 ‐ Charles Kuralt
1994 ‐ David Laventhol
1993 ‐ The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour
1992 ‐ Arthur Ochs Sulzberger
1991 ‐ Peter Arnett
1990 ‐ Robert C. Maynard
1989 ‐ Neil Sheehan
1988 ‐ Louis D. Boccardi
1987 ‐ The Honorable John E. Moss
1986 ‐ William L. Shirer
1985 ‐ Helen Thomas
1984 ‐ Frank McCulloch
1983 ‐ Morton Mintz
1982 ‐ Edward Barrett
1981 ‐ Walter E. (Red) Smith
1980 ‐ Tom Wolfe
1979 ‐ Theodore H. White
1978 ‐ Charles Peters
1977 ‐ Pamela Mendels
1976 ‐ A.H. Raskin
1975 ‐ William Shawn
1974 ‐ John H. Johnson
1973 ‐ Katharine Graham
1972 ‐ Neil Sheehan
1971 ‐ I.F. Stone
1967 ‐ Edgar B. Stern, Jr.
1964 ‐ Fred Friendly
1963 ‐ Citation to Theodore Kheel
1962 ‐ Erwin Canham
1961 ‐ Bernard Kilgore
1960 ‐ Mark Ethridge
1959 ‐ Arthur Hays Sulzberger
1958 ‐ J.N. Heiskell