The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) is proud to present Brian C. Anderson of City Journal with the Thomas L. Phillips Career Achievement Award and Benjamin Hall of Fox News with the Kenneth Y. Tomlinson Award for Courageous Journalism at the 30th Annual TFAS Journalism Awards Dinner.
TFAS will host supporters, friends, and prominent figures in the journalism community for the event on November 14, 2023. Held at the Metropolitan Club in New York City, the evening will celebrate the next generation of outstanding journalists through TFAS’s Novak and Rago Fellowship Programs while also honoring today’s leaders.
At the dinner, TFAS will award Brian C. Anderson, editor of City Journal, the cultural and political quarterly published by the Manhattan Institute with the Thomas L. Phillips Career Achievement Award for his remarkable career. Formerly, he was senior editor of City Journal and a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute.
As editor, Anderson has overseen the enormously successful expansion of City Journal’s website, which now reaches millions of readers. His guidance has broadened City Journal’s influence, with the addition of many new authors and regular contributors. In his years editing City Journal, the magazine has continued to be one of the nation’s premier public-policy magazines.
Alongside Anderson, Benjamin Hall will be honored with the Kenneth Y. Tomlinson Award for Courageous Journalism.
Hall currently serves as a correspondent for Fox News Channel (FNC). In March of 2022, while covering the war in Ukraine, Hall was wounded when his team was struck by incoming fire outside Kyiv.
Hall is the author of the book “SAVED: A War Reporter’s Mission to Make It Home,” which was published on March 14, 2023. The book details the story of his survival, his dramatic rescue along with his arduous and ongoing recovery.
In addition to honoring Anderson and Hall, TFAS will formally announce the seven participants for the 2023-24 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. Diana Glebova of the New York Post, Fiona Harrigan of Reason, Anthony Hennen of The Center Square, Charles Fain Lehman of City Journal, Daniel Di Martino of the Manhattan Institute, Jimmy Quinn of National Review, and Isaac Schorrn of Mediaite will spend one year researching and providing in-depth reporting on their chosen topics surrounding the principles of a free society. Topics to be researched by the cohort include the legalization of drugs, lessons from Venezuela’s destruction by socialism, and the Chinese Communist Party’s influence, among others.
The evening will also honor Sierra McClain, this year’s Joseph Rago Memorial Fellow for Excellence in Journalism. Named after Joseph Rago, a Wall Street Journal editorial board member who passed away in 2017, the Rago Fellowship awards a qualified aspiring journalist with a nine-month internship with The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. Sierra attended the University of Oregon where she earned a bachelor’s degree in history (Phi Beta Kappa) and a master’s degree in journalism. Since 2019, she has reported full-time for the Capital Press, a regional newspaper covering agricultural business and policy news across California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Her work has won national awards and has been syndicated by dozens of publications, including the Associated Press and U.S. News & World Report.
“The Rago Fellowship is a rare opportunity for young writers to learn world class editing and writing skills from some of the most thoughtful, intelligent journalists in the business,” McClain said. “I am grateful to TFAS, the Rago family, and The Wall Street Journal editorial board for the chance to start my career with guidance from such talented professionals.”
TFAS is proud to be an organization that fosters leaders in journalism, a considerable number of whom advance to become recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, best-selling authors, and editors at esteemed national publications. In 2023, TFAS launched a new Center for Excellence in Journalism to reinvigorate its efforts to train leaders who will promote objectivity and fairness in the media. TFAS’s current work in journalism including the Rago and Novak Fellowships will refocus its efforts under the new center.