This Thursday, Sept. 27, The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) will announce the first recipient of a Fellowship honoring the late Wall Street Journal editorial writer Joseph Rago at the 25th Annual Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Awards Dinner.
Elliot Kaufman (Rago 18) will be introduced as the inaugural recipient of the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism. Kaufman spent this past summer as a Bartley Fellow with The Wall Street Journal, where he worked in the Journal’s opinion section. In addition to the Journal, his articles have been published in Commentary, National Review, The Washington Examiner and the Claremont Review of Books. Kaufman graduated from Stanford University in June.
“Much like Joe Rago, Elliot has shown extraordinary aptitude, integrity and drive from the very start of his young journalism career. We are honored to be working with The Wall Street Journal and the Rago family to help foster Elliot’s talent,” said Roger Ream (ICPES 76), President of TFAS.
The event will honor the life and legacy of Joseph Rago, who died last year at the age of 34. Rago won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for what the award committee called his “well crafted, against-the-grain editorials challenging the health care reform advocated by President Obama.” Paul Gigot, editorial page editor and vice president of the Journal, will give remarks at the dinner in memory of his late colleague.
Also providing remarks will be Andrew Ferguson, national correspondent at The Weekly Standard, who will present best-selling author P.J. O’Rourke with the 2018 Thomas L. Phillips Career Achievement Award for his contributions to the field of journalism.
At the event, seven 2018-19 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship awards will also be announced. The following Novak Fellows will spend one-year researching and providing in-depth reporting on their chosen topics surrounding the principles of a free society:
- Tim Alberta (Novak 18), Politico Magazine
- Christine Emba(Novak 18), The Washington Post
- Curt Mills (Novak 18), The National Interest
- Kenneth R. Rosen(Novak 18), The New York Times
- Leah Libresco Sargeant (Novak 18), Author of the new book “Building the Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name”
- Kari Travis (IPJ 12, Novak 18), Carolina Journal
- Joel B. Pollak (Novak 18), Breitbart News (Alumni Fund Fellowship)
Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism
The Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism provides a year-long internship with The Wall Street Journal’s editorial team to an aspiring or working journalist. This annual fellowship is open to recent college and journalism school graduates and journalists with less than five years’ experience. Fellows may edit op-eds and write headlines and other components of stories, contribute editorials on behalf of the Editorial Board, contribute profiles and features under their own byline, and take on a variety of other tasks as needed for the print and digital editions of the Journal.
The Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program
For a quarter-century, the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program has fostered the leaders of the next generation of journalism. Fellows include reporters and editors at the nation’s top publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and National Review, as well as the editors-in-chief of The Weekly Standard and Reason magazine. The fellowships are named for Robert D. Novak, longtime columnist, CNN broadcaster and reporter for the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal.
The Fund for American Studies
TFAS is an educational nonprofit that is changing the world by developing leaders for a free society. Their transformational programs teach the principles of limited government, free-market economics and honorable leadership to students and young professionals in America and around the world.