Start the Presses, It's Journalism's Trophy Show

By Don Oldenburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 24, 2006

Tough decision last night. The Olympic women's figure skating finals airing from Turin, or the National Press Foundation's 23rd-annual awards dinner at the Hilton Washington Hotel?

The NPF benefit didn't feature any salchows or triple axels. Nobody threw bouquets on ice -- certainly not this group! But, believe it or not, the gathering of many of the nation's top-notch reporters, editors and producers to toast some of the best work in journalism had almost as much drama as the Games.

Spoiler: Topping the list of the night's winners were columnist Jack Germond, CBS correspondent Charles Osgood and Toledo Blade Executive Editor Ron Royhab. More on them after this.

At the cozy and way-overcrowded reception for the head table, before 1,000 or so guests (most of them with ink in their blood) converged on the ballroom, a larger-than-life Germond held court in a corner while prestigious journalists maneuvered to get in a hello with Ben Bradlee, the former executive editor of The Washington Post.

Bradlee's "the gold standard of editors," said NPF Chairman George Condon, who served as master of ceremonies for the evening.

If the Pulitzers are the Oscars of journalism, what are the NPF awards?

"I wouldn't characterize it that way," said NPF President Bob Meyers, explaining that the NPF isn't a glitter organization, but an educational foundation. This dinner is its principal source of revenue -- figuring it at $600,000 gross this night.

"We give unique awards and try to fill in the gaps to recognize people who worked in the trenches and at the top for a long time," he said.

But then he answered the question: "Often the editor of the year and cartoonist of the year awards are precursors to the Pulitzers."

Black-tie was optional. These are journalists, after all. But most of the guests opted for formal attire.

CNN's tuxed Ed Henry, who won the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress along with the Boston Globe's Susan Milligan, brought his 4-year-old son, Patrick, wearing a little tuxedo. A couple of weeks earlier, Patrick won a soccer trophy. He was wondering if his dad would be getting a trophy here. Not exactly.

"But it's a terrific honor. . . . It's humbling," said Henry, who a few weeks ago got caught in a crunch between that nerve-gas scare on Capitol Hill and a formal congressional press dinner. For three hours he reported on air -- in a tuxedo.

Founding NPF president Bob Alden, who labored 48 years at The Post as a sportswriter and editor, said of the award: "It's become one of the celebrated awards -- and we even include broadcasting!"

NPF paid a special tribute to journalists of the Gulf Coast, who kept writing and broadcasting during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, often at great personal risk and sacrifice.

Editor Stan Tiner made sure Biloxi residents received the Sun-Herald throughout the storm: "It was something you would never want to do again but you wouldn't trade anything for it. We hugged each other and cried and put out a newspaper. It's what journalism can do."

Kurt Brautigam, spokesman for Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of event sponsor Southern Co., said, "What they did in providing timely information to residents was incredible. It allowed us to move forward."

During a four-course dinner of pesto-flavored buffalo mozzarella with salad and mizo-glazed tilapia, the awards flowed with the wine. Among them:

· National Geographic Magazine Online, "a terrific site with fascinating content."

· Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies of the Hackensack, N.J., Record. He read an e-mail from a reader: "If I had my way, your hands would be bathed in super glue." These are the times of cartoonists, are they not?

· The Blade's Royhab, receiving the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year Award, led the newspaper's investigation that uncovered statewide fiscal mismanagement and a rare-coin investment scheme. "You never get all the truth with the first bite of the apple. It takes a newspaper willing to sustain that effort," he said, paraphrasing Bradlee.

And Bradlee himself: "All things being equal, this is an award I'd rather get than give, but who's looking back?"

Among those awarded the Chairman's Citation for Overall Excellence in Journalism for post-hurricane coverage was the New Orleans Times-Picayune's Jim Amoss, who recounted the publication of the first printed edition after the hurricane struck. "People grabbed for them as if they were food," he said. "Katrina's aftermath consumes most of our pages these days and we don't know its ending."

On the airwaves, Dave Cohen kept WWL-AM radio in New Orleans issuing news and updates for trapped survivors.

Mississippi Press editor Steve Cox kept the presses rolling in Pascagoula, Miss., and, in Beaumont, Tex., Tim Kelly, editor of the Enterprise, got the news out after Hurricane Rita by moving stories and reports directly online before republishing it in the newspaper days later.

The foundation awarded veteran political columnist Jack Germond the W.M. Kiplinger Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism, sort of a lifetime-achievement award. Before retiring, Germond covered national politics for more than 50 years for Gannett Newspapers, the Washington Star and the Baltimore Sun.

Speaking poignantly for the profession and for himself, Germond said, "This award is icing on a cake that didn't need any other sweetening."

But the last word went to the poet-newsman Charles Osgood of CBS News, who received the Sol Taishoff Award for Broadcasting Excellence. The anchor of "CBS News Sunday Morning" for more than a decade, he also writes "The Osgood File" -- a popular daily commentary on the CBS Radio Network. "What we do and how we do it does touch lives and makes a difference in those lives," he said. "I can tell you when I take this award home, I will not think of a single thing I have done; I will think of what you all have done and what a noble profession this is."

And he ended with his trademark line: "I'll see you on the radio."

Standing ovation. Gold medalists, all of them.