Origins: Ernie Pyle Award What became the National Journalism Awards were launched in 1954 with the
Ernie Pyle Award (originally supported by the Ernie Pyle Memorial Fund). The award is given annually to reporters who "most nearly exemplify the style and craftsmanship for which
Ernie Pyle was known". The award was administered by the
E. W. Scripps Company until the 1962 formation of the
Scripps Howard Foundation. The Ernie Pyle award was later named the "Human Interest Writing Ernie Pyle Award" and is now presented as "Excellence in Narrative Human-Interest Storytelling, Honoring Ernie Pyle."
1960s and '70s In 1966, Scripps-Howard Newspapers conservation editor
Edward J. Meeman died, and the company created the Edward J. Meeman Foundation to support journalism and conservation through grants and awards. Beginning in 1968, the
Edward J. Meeman Environmental Reporting Award became the second annual award given by Scripps-Howard. Previous winners of the environmental reporting award include
Ken Ward Jr.,
Sam Roe,
Bruce Ingersoll,
James V. Risser,
Larry Tye, and
Craig Flournoy. In 2022, the award was renamed as "Excellence in Environmental Reporting, honoring Edward W. 'Ted' Scripps II." In the 1970s, three more awards became part of the roster of journalism prizes. First, in 1972, was the
Public Service Reporting Award, honoring long-time Scripps executive
Roy W. Howard. The
public service award was originally divided into a newspaper division and a broadcast division. In 1986, the award was restructured to recognize newspapers only, and divided into two categories — under 100,000 and over 100,000 circulation. In 2004, the circulation divisions were eliminated altogether; the award was discontinued after 2016. In 1974, the
Editorial Writing Walker Stone Award, joined the list. Currently known as the "Walker Stone Award for Opinion Writing," it was named in honor of Walker Stone (1905–1973), editor-in-chief of Scripps-Howard Newspapers. In 1977, the
First Amendment Edward Willis Scripps Award was inaugurated. "Given to the editor of the winning newspaper for distribution to the individual or individuals on the staff who contributed most significantly to the cause of the
First Amendment guarantee of a free press," the award is now known as "Distinguished Service to the First Amendment, honoring Edward Willis Scripps." By the end of the 1970s, the Scripps Howard Foundation was presenting a total of five annual journalism awards.
1980s In 1980, Scripps Howard added the
College Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz Award, which was "funded by
United Features Syndicate ... to honor
Charles M. Schulz on the 30th anniversary of his comic strip,
Peanuts;" Schulz himself served as a judge in the award's early years. After being presented for 30 years, the award was discontinued in 2011 "due to the lack of entries to merit its continuance." In 1985, the
Jack R. Howard Broadcast Awards for Public Service Programming began being represented. A broadcasting award, it was divided into
radio and
television, with each format broken into two sub-categories — large market and small market; so, four new awards. In 1991, the TV division was renamed "TV/Cable" and in 2004, the Broadcast Awards did away with the market categories, reducing the prizes awarded each year to two. After 2008, the public service programming award was restructured/eliminated. In 1987, the
Scripps Howard Foundation, in commemoration of its 25th anniversary, officially dubbed the awards the
National Journalism Awards and distributed them at a banquet held in April. The total amount of cash prizes and plaques given out was worth $41,000. That same year, the
Literacy Charles E. Scripps Award, began being presented, given "to any daily broadcast and/or newspaper or local cable system in the U.S. or its territories for most outstanding effort ... to overcome
illiteracy in its community." The separate awards for broadcast and newspaper outlets were abandoned in 1997 (reducing two prizes to one), and the literacy award itself was discontinued after 2003.
1990s In 1998–1999, Scripps Howard added five new categories to the National Journalism Awards (three of which have since been discontinued). First, the
Commentary award lasted from 1998 to 2014; while the award for
Excellence in Photojournalism, also launched in 1998, was renamed in 2017 as "Excellence in Visual Journalism" ("the visual documenting of some of the year’s most complex issues and events"). As of 2022, it is currently awarded as "Visual Human-Interest Storytelling." In 1999, a new award debuted: the
Business/Economics Reporting William Brewster Styles Award, recognizing "the long-time business editor for
The Cincinnati Post." The award is currently called "Excellence in Business/Financial Reporting."
2000–2008 The year 2000 saw two new awards join the list:
Editorial Cartooning and
Web Reporting; both of which have since been discontinued. Editorial Cartooning lasted from 2000 to 2011, while Web Reporting lasted from 2000 to 2008. The period 2004–2008 saw the addition of five new categories of awards (and the retirement of one, the Literacy Award). In 2004, in partnership with the
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, two new categories joined the roster:
Teacher of the Year and
Administrator of the Year. Also joining the list in 2004 was the
Investigative Reporting Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize (now given as the "National/International Investigative Reporting, the Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize"). In 2005, Scripps-Howard took over the administration of the
Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, which had previously been given at the annual
White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Renaming it the
Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award, the prize was presented through 2011, when it was discontinued.
2009–present The period 2009–2012 saw the elimination of a number of awards, including those for Public Service Broadcasting (2009), Web Reporting (2009), the Raymond Clapper Award (2012), the two cartooning awards (2011 and 2012, respectively), and Commentary (2014). In 2010, the National Journalism Awards were renamed the
Scripps Howard Awards. In addition, two new prizes joined the roster:
Coverage of Breaking News and the
Jack R. Howard Award for In-Depth Radio Coverage, later amended to "Excellence in Radio/
Podcast Coverage, honoring Jack R. Howard." In 2022, the award was renamed "Excellence in Audio Storytelling, honoring Jack R. Howard". In the period 2013–2017, eight new prizes joined the Scripps Howard Awards roster. First was the
Digital Innovation award, now known as "Innovation, honoring Roy W. Howard." 2016 saw four new awards, including two for video storytelling: the
Jack R. Howard Award for Television/Cable In-Depth Local Coverage (currently known as "Local Video Storytelling, honoring Jack. R. Howard") and the
Jack R. Howard Award for Television/Cable In-Depth National and International Coverage (currently known as the award for "National/International Video Storytelling, honoring Jack R. Howard"). Also debuting in 2016 (in partnership with the
Google News Lab) was the
Scripps Howard Award for Community Journalism (now known as the award for "Local/Regional Investigative Reporting"). The final new award to debut in 2016 was the
Topic of the Year Award; now known as the "Impact Award", the "winner is deemed to have had the greatest impact from the list." The newest award category in the Scripps Howard Awards is
Multimedia Journalism, which debuted in 2018. == List of awardees ==