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 — three generations of Duke alumni, Ashley B. Futrell Sr. (‘33), Ashley B. Futrell Jr. (‘78), and Nan Futrell (‘07) – 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.

RECIPIENTS

 

2023-2024

Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports

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”

Rescinded- December 4, 2017

 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

 

  • Two separate awards given in 1998-99
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