National Press Club

The winner of the 2024 Arthur E. Rowse Award for Examining the News Media (Print/Online) is Liam Scott and the team at Voice of America! You can read the winning piece, "Last of the Watchdogs," here: https://lnkd.in/gKfAbXbk

Re-energize how you view writing — and the way you do it — with tips from nationally sought-after writing coach Steve Padilla. Padilla is editor of Column One, the Los Angeles Times’ showcase for storytelling.     Join us for lunch — and lots of learning — as Padilla will guide you out of your writing ruts with sentence-level, achievable techniques to invigorate your writing. This program is in person only and will not be recorded. Register for tickets now! https://lnkd.in/gVfHvQZT

The winner of the 2024 Ann Cottrell Free Animal Reporting (Broadcast) Award is Maya Trabulsi from KPBS! You can read the piece that won her this award here: https://lnkd.in/gmKyqyeb

The Wall Street Journal is the winner of the 2024 Edwin M. Hood Award! Read the piece that won them this award here: https://lnkd.in/eBERqSdY

WASHINGTON, July 22 – The following is a statement from Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, on the sentencing of U.S. Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Kurmasheva was sentenced to 6.5 years after a trial held behind closed doors. “We are deeply troubled and outraged to learn that Russia has continued its mockery of a case against Alsu Kurmasheva and sentenced her to more than six years in prison. The sham trial- done completely in secret- underscores that Russia has no case against her. Alsu is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. We call on Russia to immediately release Alsu and clear her of any convictions. We call on the U.S. to do everything they can to bring Alsu back to her husband Pavel and her daughters Miriam and Bibi. Further, the State Department must declare Alsu wrongfully detained - now.”

🚨 The deadline is Sunday (July 28) for the National Press Club's Fall Lewis Scholarship 🚨 🎓 This opportunity provides free housing + stipend for college juniors or seniors with a media internship in DC 🎓 ⬇️ Share with a student journalist today! ⬇️

WASHINGTON, July 22 – The following is a statement from Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, on the 10th anniversary of the arrest of journalists Jason Rezaian and Yegi Rezaian in Iran. “On the 10th anniversary of the arrest of The Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and his wife Yegi in Tehran, we want to take a minute to recognize their resilience during their time in captivity and how they have worked since their release to become leaders in a growing movement to protect journalists in trouble. The Rezaians have rebuilt their lives. We are happy they have found community here in Washington and at the Press Club. When we first met them in 2016, Jason was not able to speak before a crowd at his own birthday celebration. It was too much. Yegi spoke for them. Slowly we watched them gain strength and act with purpose. They engaged in fellowships. They went back to work. Now they are raising a family. They have learned much over the past ten years and increasingly have been able to help others by sharing what they have learned. Yegi works full time for a press freedom organization, Jason writes about press freedom issues for the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post. He has produced an impressive book, a podcast and appears regularly on TV and speaks at conferences. But it is what they do outside of these formal roles that is perhaps most impressive and is less fully understood. At all hours of the day and night, on weekends and holidays the Rezaians are on the phone trying to help journalists and others obtain safety, get to the U.S. get settled, get housing, fellowships, jobs and navigate the difficult world of former hostages and exiled journalists. This is not their job. It is their life. Without the Rezaians much of this vital work would not be done. The Club is grateful to count Jason and Yegi as important members of our community. We appreciate all the work they have done, both through the Club and the wider journalism community. We look forward to soon announcing other ways we will work together to bolster press freedom in the U.S. and around the world.”

MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: Pavel Butorin, husband of imprisoned Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and their two daughters, Bibi and Miriam, are available for media interviews between 9:00am-12pm on Thursday, July 25 at the National Press Club. Alsu is one of the two American journalists currently detained in Russia. She was arrested in October 2023 while visiting her sick mother for failing to declare herself as a “foreign agent.” Please contact Rowan Humphries (humphriesr@rferl.org) to schedule an interview.

WASHINGTON, July 19 – The following is a statement from Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club on the outrageous and unjust sentence of 16 years in a Russian penal colony assigned to journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal -- for the practice of journalism. "Words are insufficient to express our outrage at the conviction of journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal in a Russian court today. He was simply doing his job and any suggestion to the contrary is a lie. Russia has made no evidence public in this sham trial for the simple reason there is no evidence. Evan Gershkovich is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Russia reviewed Evan’s application for a credential to work as a journalist. After their process of reviewing the substantial paperwork and checking every comma they granted him credentials to work in Russia. They did not have to do this. They could simply have refused to let him enter the country. At any time during his period of reporting they could have expelled him from the country for any reason or no reason at all. Arresting him was utterly unnecessary. And it was the first such action by Russia in the post-Soviet period. We are not surprised by today’s conviction as virtually all those charged in the Russia system are convicted. We call on the U.S. to continue to work on bringing Evan home. And we know a conviction in this system must precede a prisoner swap which we anticipate now will be possible. Yet, Russia managed to cover itself in disgrace with these actions today in a way that all the world can see. Whatever they hoped to gain from this cruel action will be overwhelmed by the damage they have done to their own reputation in the process.”

The winner of the 2024 Ann Cottrell Free Animal Reporting Award (Print) is Chiara Eisner from NPR! Here's the piece that won her this award: https://lnkd.in/eE9W4FGv