for Outstanding Achievement in Communications and Journalism by a Duke alum
The Futrell Award for Outstanding Achievement in Communications and Journalism was established in 1999 by Ashley B. Futrell, Jr., in tribute to his father, Ashley B. Futrell, Sr., for his career contributions to Duke University and to the profession of journalism. The award is presented annually to a Duke University alum for outstanding achievement in the field of communications and journalism and is administered by the DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
The Futrells – both are Duke alumni, Ashley B. Futrell, Sr. (’33) and Ashley B. Futrell, Jr., (’78) – exemplify the ideals of the Futrell Award. Not only have they made significant contributions to the field of communications, but their newspaper, the Washington (NC) Daily News, has directly improved the quality of life in the community in which they have lived all their lives. In 1990 The Washington Daily News pursued information revealing that the city’s water supply was contaminated with carcinogens, a problem that the local government had neither disclosed nor corrected over a period of eight years. The newspaper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service.
2022-2023
Nia-Malika Henderson, senior political analyst for CNN
2021-2022
Valerie Bauerlein Jackson, National Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
(Prepared remarks delivered to journalism students, as remembered.)
2020-2021
No award made, due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2019-2020 (award made in 2021, due to the pandemic)
John Carryrou, investigative reporter and author, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
2018-2019
Susan Taylor Martin, reporter and editor, Tampa Bay Times
2017-2018
Peter Applebome, deputy national editor, The New York Times
2016-2017
Craig Whitlock, investigative reporter, The Washington Post
2015-2016
Laura C. Gentile, Senior Vice President espnW and Women’s Initiatives, ESPN
2014-2015
Jim Wilson, Photojournalist, The New York Times
2013-2014
John Feinstein, Columnist, The Washington Post
2012-2013
John Drescher, Executive Editor, The News and Observer
2011-2012
Rome J. Hartman III, Executive Producer, NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams
2010-2011
Cornelia Grumman, former Executive Director, The First Five Years Fund, a nonprofit organization advocating for early childhood education; editorialist, the Chicago Tribune.
2009-2010
Mark Mazzetti, national security correspondent, The New York Times
2008-2009
Karen Blumenthal, Author, former Business Editor, Wall Street Journal
2007-2008
Stephen Labaton, Senior Writer, The New York Times, Washington Bureau
2006-2007
Kevin Sack, National Correspondent, Los Angeles Times
2005-2006
John Harwood, Chief Washington Correspondent of CNBC and Senior Contributing Writer, The Wall Street Journal
2004-2005
James F. Goodmon, President and CEO, Capitol Broadcasting Company
2003-2004
David Hartman, Former Host, “Good Morning America”
2002-2003
Susan Tifft, Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy, Duke University; author of The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times
2001-2002
Fred Andrews, former writer and editor, The New York Times
2000-2001
Charlie Rose, host, “The Charlie Rose Show”
1999-2000
Jason DeParle, Reporter, The New York Times
1998-1999*
Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent, CNN
1998-1999*
Clay Felker, Founding Editor of New York Magazine and the editor of The Village Voice and Esquire