The 2013 Robert Novak Fellows will spend the year writing on a topic of their choosing, focusing on journalism supportive of American culture and a free society. Front row (l.-r.): Ian Corbin, Joy Pullmann, Tiffany Owens, Joseph Lawler. Back row (l.-r.) Tom Peter, Christopher White, Ryan Ekvall.
The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) has acquired the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program from The Phillips Foundation. The announcement was made at the 20th Annual Novak Journalism Fellowship Awards Dinner at the National Press Club in Washington on May 7.
TFAS awarded $185,000 in 2013 fellowships to seven young journalists at the dinner. In addition, Executive Editor Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard was honored with the Thomas L. Phillips Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by Brit Hume.
The Phillips Foundation launched the Journalism Fellowship Program in 1994 to promote objective journalism. Robert Novak, a leading American journalist and a Phillips Foundation founding trustee, proposed the program as a way to nurture a new generation of responsible journalists. The program, which was renamed in his honor following his passing in 2009, has awarded 117 fellowships during the past two decades. Novak Fellows are climbing the ranks of American journalism as reporters, editors, columnists and authors.
Phillips Foundation founder Thomas L. Phillips will serve as honorary chairman of the Novak program going forward. “TFAS is the perfect new home for the Novak Journalism Fellowship Program,” Phillips said. “As a longtime TFAS trustee and now trustee emeritus, I have always admired the work of TFAS in advocating for responsible journalism and in educating young people in freedom, individual responsibility and free markets. I am sure the Novak program will thrive as part of TFAS.”
As part of the acquisition, TFAS welcomed John Farley as vice president of the Robert Novak Fellowship Program and director of corporate relations, and Vanessa Henderson as his executive assistant.
TFAS President Roger Ream said he welcomes this prestigious program, which complements other TFAS journalism programs. “The Novak Journalism Fellowship Program is an ideal addition to our other journalism initiatives,” said Ream. “In fact, we’re planning to create a TFAS Center for Excellence in Media to encompass all these programs.”
TFAS announced the winners of the seven 2013 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowships at the 20th annual awards dinner last night:
$50,000 Full-time Fellowship
Tom Peter, a contract Middle East correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, for the topic: “How Lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan Should Change America’s Border War.”
$25,000 Part-time Fellowships
Ian Corbin, a 2012 Bartley Fellow at The Wall Street Journal, for the topic: “The Nature and Value of Conservative Cultural Criticism.”
Joseph Lawler, editor at Real Clear Politics, for the topic: “Red Tape and Redlining: The Problem of Overregulation in Poor America.”
Tiffany Owens, a World magazine correspondent in North Carolina, for the topic: “Bohemian Backlash: How trickle-down urban policies that favor the creative class hurt cities and what conservatives can do about it.”
Joy Pullmann, managing editor and research fellow at the Heartland Institute, for the topic: “What Common Core Means for American Education.”
Christopher White, a freelance writer focusing on matters of faith, life and family policy, on the topic: “How Reproductive Technologies Pose Serious Threats to the Traditional Family Unit.”
$10,000 Alumni Fund Fellowship
Ryan Ekvall, multimedia reporter at the Wisconsin Reporter in Madison, on the topic: “The Rise and Fall of Public Sector Collective Bargaining in America: How Scott Walker’s Act 10 Marked the Peak of Public Unionism in America.”