Spirits were high during the 31st Annual TFAS Journalism Awards Dinner on November 12 in New York City as guests joined The Fund for American Studies to celebrate two significant journalists and honor rising journalists shaping the future of the industry. Generous dinner sponsors and supporters gave more than $200,000 to support TFAS journalism programs and fellowships.
The evening began with Ryan Wolfe, director of the Center for Excellence in Journalism presenting the 2024-25 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship award recipients. This prestigious, year-long program enables early-career journalists to pursue impactful, career-building projects of their choice. TFAS is delighted to welcome Audrey Fahlberg, Carine Hajjar, Park MacDougald, Emmet Penney, Rachel Roth Aldhizer, Hannah Rowan and Nic Rowan as this year’s Fellows.
During the award acceptances, each Fellow took a moment to share insights on the topic that they’re spending researching for the next year. Boston Globe opinion writer Carine Hajjar, Rago ’22, Novak ’24, has spent the past year refining her journalism skills. She shared remarks about her Novak project titled, “Iran and its Proxies: A Return to an Unstable Middle East,” where she is interviewing students, academics and politicians about their views on the complicated war in the Middle East.
“With my Novak project and the generosity from The Fund for American Studies, I have the chance to not only ask students to consider different ideas, different narratives on their campuses, but to offer those narratives too.”
Following the Novak Fellowship Awards presentation, Paul Rago, the father of the Rago awards’ namesake, expressed his gratitude to TFAS, The Wall Street Journal and the Steve Klinsky Foundation for keeping his late son’s memory alive through the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowships for Excellence in Journalism.
For the first time since its creation in 2018, the 2024-25 Rago Fellowship was given to two deserving individuals, Jillian Lederman and Luke Lyman. Together, they will spend nine months interning with the Opinion section of The Wall Street Journal.
During Jillian Lederman’s, Rago ’24, award acceptance, she shared her appreciation for being chosen as one of this year’s recipients.
“How fitting it is that one of the many things Joe left behind was the chance for young journalists to make it into the world that he so loved,” Lederman said. “For the gift of being one of the recipients of that chance, I want to first thank Roger Ream, Ryan Wolfe and The Fund for American Studies. You have cultivated a launching pad for the types of journalists the world desperately needs.”
The celebration continued as James Dao, editorial page editor at The Boston Globe, presented his former colleague James Bennet, Lexington columnist and senior editor at The Economist, with the Kenneth Y. Tomlinson Award for Outstanding Journalism.
Dao shared his fond memories of working alongside Bennet as a metro reporter at The New York Times, highlighting Bennet’s well-deserved recognition for his unwavering dedication to telling the truth, even against significant challenges, such as when the Times published an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton in 2020.
“He didn’t back down from the core idea behind publishing that op-ed that it was right for Time’s Opinion to publish a prominent conservative, even if many of its readers found his ideas abhorrent and perhaps precisely because they found them abhorrent,” Dao said.
Bennet then took the stage to express his appreciation for the honor, reflecting on his journalism career and emphasizing the importance of free speech and a free press.
“Thank you so much for this generous recognition,” Bennet said. “It’s particularly meaningful to me that this award is named for Ken Tomlinson, given his own respect for the intelligence of his readers and his commitment to the idea that they deserve to hear from, that they needed to hear from a wide range of voices.”
The evening continued as Paul Gigot, editorial page editor and vice president of The Wall Street Journal, presented Lance Morrow, contributing columnist at The Wall Street Journal and former TIME Magazine essayist, with the Thomas L. Phillips Career Achievement Award. Gigot recalled Morrow’s long and distinguished career of covering wars, presidential races and protests from Vietnam to Gaza.
“What I admire the most about his journalism is his attention to craft,” Gigot said. “He is still writing some of the finest prose in American journalism and along with it, dispensing wisdom born of long experience.”
Due to his father’s illness at the time, James Morrow accepted the award on his behalf. He stressed the importance of holding legacy media accountable, warning that falsification undermines the integrity of journalism, a damage already evident during the past election. Morrow credited TFAS for its dedication to developing courageous young leaders who are committed to honest journalism.
“The work of The Fund for American Studies is very important because it will help the long, slow correction ahead which is necessary and which is coming,” Morrow said.
Lance Morrow passed away on Friday, November 29. The award was a fitting tribute to a distinguished career dedicated to honest journalism, bringing him immense joy.
TFAS is grateful to its supporters for making its programs possible and for fostering the development of the next generation of exceptional journalists.
Watch the full ceremony below.
Read more about the life and legacy of Morrow here.