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Carey McWilliams Award

Carey McWilliams Award 
Nominations are closed.


The McWilliams Award honors a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.

The award is presented at the APSA Annual Meeting and carries a cash prize of $1000.  The award was established in honor of Dr. McWilliams’s intellectual forthrightness and political independence as a journalist.

Nomination Information

  • Eligibility: Self-nominations are accepted. Nominees do not have to be members of APSA, affiliated with an institution in the United States, or an American citizen in order to be considered for an award.
       
  • Eligible candidates:
    • should have a distinguished public service career in newspaper, magazine, or broadcast media;
    • should, in his or her work, illumine some broad general principles of the social and political sciences;
    • may have a background in editorial activities and not necessarily be a working journalist or writer, and
    • should illumine certain key elements identified with McWilliams, which include intellectual forthrightness and political independence.

Award Committee

Chair
John Sides, Vanderbilt University
Member
Stephen Caliendo, North Central College
Member
Erika Franklin Fowler, Wesleyan University
Donate now to APSCMCWM Carey McWilliams Award
YearRecipientAffiliation
2025Jamelle BouieThe New York Times
2024Adam IscoeThe New Yorker
2023Steve LopezThe Los Angeles Times
2022James NewtonUniversity of California, Los Angeles
2021Loren GhiglioneNorthwestern University
2020Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill (posthumously)PBS NewsHour
2019Ariel Edwards-LevyThe Huffington Post
2018Craig SilvermanBuzzFeed News
2017Jake TapperCNN
2016Alan RusbridgerThe Guardian/ Oxford University
2015No award given 
2014Charlayne Hunter-GaultAuthor and Journalist
2013Ezra KleinThe Washington Post
2012Dana PriestThe Washington Post
2011Robert FiskThe Independent
2010Charles E. Cook Jr.Cook Political Report
2009Fareed ZakariaNewsweek International
2008National Public Radio 
2007Ronald BrownsteinLos Angeles Times, Washington Bureau
2006Mark DannerUniversity of California, Berkeley
2005Seymour HershThe New Yorker
2004Bill MoyersPublic Affairs Television
2003Adam Clymer (Co-recipient)The New York Times
2003Thomas Friedman (Co-recipient)The New York Times
2002Linda Greenhouse (Co-recipient)The New York Times
2002Janet Hook (Co-recipient)Los Angeles Times
2001Victor Navasky (Co-recipient)The Nation Magazine
2001William Kristol (Co-recipient)The Weekly Standard Magazine
2000Allen EhrenhaltGoverning Magazine
1999Dan BalzThe Washington Post
1998Richard ReevesUniversity of Southern California
1997Anthony LewisThe New York Times
1996E.J. DionneThe Washington Post
1995Brian LambC-SPAN
1994Thomas Bryne EdsellThe Washington Post
1993Nina TotenbergNational Public Radio
1992Michael BaroneU.S. News and World Report
1991Molly IvinsDallas Times-Herald
1990National Journal 
1989Lesley StahlCBS News
1988Jeffrey H. Burnbaum and Alan S. MurrayThe Wall Street Journal
1987Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 
1986Neal R. PeirceWashingotn Post Writers Group
1985Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeilMacNeil/Lehrer Newshour
1984Murray KemptonNewsday
1983David S. BroderThe Washington Post
1982Richard StroutChristian Science Monitor

Support for Scholarship

We are continually grateful for the contributions from APSA members and friends that make our work possible. Your donation helps continue the McWilliams Award and recognize future individuals for their important contributions to journalism and politics. Thank you for your support of APSA and scholars across the discipline.