Prize Overview

Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prizes for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency and National Defense

Overview
In 1988, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation established the Journalism Prize Competition. With this annual award, President Ford wanted to recognize and encourage thoughtful, insightful, and enterprising work by journalists covering the presidency and national defense. The Foundation is proud to continue this tradition. Again this year, the Foundation will award two $5,000 prizes for distinguished reporting on the presidency or national defense during calendar year 2011. The awards will be presented in June 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Nominations
Competition is restricted to print journalism. Journalists may apply directly, or they may be nominated by others. In the case of nomination by a second party, the candidates may be contacted and invited to submit the materials described below to complete the application. A journalist may apply (or be nominated) jointly with another journalist for articles jointly published. A journalist can apply (or be nominated) only once for one of the two prizes each year.

Application
There is no application form. Each candidate for an award must submit six sets of the following:

1. A portfolio, no larger than 9″ x 15″, of his or her best reporting during 2011 on either the presidency or national defense. It should include at least four but not more than five articles. If a series of articles is submitted, each article in the series is considered toward the maximum of five that can be submitted. The portfolio may include clear and legible photocopies, rather than original clippings. On-line journalist entries, which may be submitted, must be in the form of Web page printouts and other original material.
2. A letter of nomination from the candidate’s publisher, editor or bureau chief, or in the case of an independent or free-lance journalist, from someone who is familiar with his or her work. Since the prizes will recognize reportorial excellence, the letter of nomination must describe in detail the candidate’s accomplishments, skills as a reporter, the larger body of journalistic work during 2011 and explain why the particular samples were chosen. The letter should also explain the degree to which the portfolio samples have been edited or revised by others.
3. A brief biographical sketch identifying the candidate’s journalistic experience and training. Include the candidate’s address, phone number and e-mail address.

Deadline
Applications must be received by March 9, 2012. All properly completed application packets received by this date will be forwarded to a panel of judges for consideration.

Selection of Winners
Each prize will be determined by a separate panel of judges. Typically, judges are selected from journalism and academia, or have experience in the executive branch or in national defense matters.

Criteria
Judging will be based upon the journalist’s ability to foster better public understanding of either the United States presidency or national defense. The prizes recognize reportorial excellence as reflected by resourcefulness, insight, quality of writing and brevity, rather than the quality of editorial comment. Candidates for either prize should have compiled a year-long record of consistent, judicious, sensitive and noteworthy coverage. The prizes recognize the quality of a journalist’s work during the year, rather than any single article.

Work may have appeared in print at a local, regional, national or international level (for example, daily newspapers, news magazines or trade publications with a broad readership). Free-lance as well as staff journalists may be candidates.

For the Presidency Prize, reporting should address ways in which the President sets policy and makes decisions, how The President initiates programs and responds to events, how The President relies on Cabinet and senior staff, and the structure and functioning of White House operations.

For the Defense Prize, reporting should address Department of Defense operations, military operations, defense resource management, military preparedness, or international arms control, or other national security issues.

Further Questions please contact:
Joe Calvaruso
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
303 Pearl St., NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
(616) 254-0397
jcalvaruso@38foundation.org