TFAS announced six winners of its 21st annual Robert Novak Journalism Fellowships during an awards dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 5, 2014. The six young journalists were awarded a total of $160,000 for year-long writing projects supportive of American culture and a free society.
The evening also honored Fox Business Network’s John Stossel with the Thomas L. Phillips Lifetime Achievement Award. Stossel received the award for devoting his television career to explaining the benefits of individual liberty and free markets. Fred Barnes, TFAS trustee and executive editor of The Weekly Standard, presented Stossel with the award. “John is important for what he’s done, and for the fact that no one else has done it,” said Barnes. “He is one of a kind and we should be grateful as Americans that there is one.”
In his acceptance remarks, Stossel said that an understanding of economics is not intuitive and that a general lack of economic education and a dependence on government to solve problems is crippling America. Stossel combats these issues through his program on Fox Business and Stossel in the Classroom, a nonprofit that provides Stossel’s economic lessons to high schools at no cost. He also thanked TFAS for their programs and educational efforts. “Thank goodness for The Fund for American Studies for educating young people,” he said.
More than 225 Novak Program supporters, friends and past fellowship recipients attended the dinner to celebrate Stossel and the new 2014 fellows. Thanks to the generosity of Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, all attendees received an advance copy of the new book,“Brothers Forever,” co-written by 2010 Novak Fellow Tom Sileo and Col.Tom Manion.USMC (Ret). Sileo stayed after the event to sign copies.
The Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Programwas launched in 1994 to promote the cause of objective journalism. Robert Novak, a leading American journalist, 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 123 fellowships during the past two decades.
The 2014 fellows join a prestigious family of fellowship winners who are climbing the ranks of American journalism as reporters, editors, columnists, news anchors and authors. “I look forward to following our new fellows’ projects over the coming year, and their work in the years to come,” said TFAS President Roger Ream (ICPES 76). As sound, objective journalists who seek the truth, they can change the course of journalism in this country.”
THE 2014 ROBERT NOVAK JOURNALISM FELLOWS:
$50,000 Full-time Fellowship
Lewis McCrary, 31, works as special projects editor at Next City, a Philadelphia-based publication covering urban affairs. His fellowship project is titled: “Almoners and Oilmen: The Pew Family, American Charity and the Rise of Global Philanthropy.”
$25,000 Part-time Fellowship
Marc Fitch, 35, is a freelance writer and a psychiatric technician in Waterbury, Connecticut. In his fellowship project, “Men without Qualities,” he will explore the use of “experts” in the media and how they not only limit critical thinking but also sell ideology in the guise of science.
Margot Lurie, 33, is associate editor at Parnassus: Poetry in Review in New York. Her fellowship project, “How the Culture of Testosterone Harms Men and Women Alike,” will examine the underreported nexus of biology, sociology and the history of men and women.
Aaron MacLean, 32, is a freelance journalist and an officer and master instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps. He will devote his fellowship to the topic: “Left Face: The Progressive Transformation of the U.S. Military.”
Kyle Peterson, 27, is managing editor at The American Spectator. His fellowship project is titled: “In or Out: How would Britain’s Exit from the European Union Affect U.S. Interests and the Special Relationship?”
$10,000 Alumni Fund Scholarship
Jonathan Cassidy, 37, is bureau chief and staff writer at Watchdog.org in Houston under the auspices of The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. For his fellowship project, he will investigate how the pensions of public unions are bankrupting American cities.
To view photos from the 21st Annual Robert Novak Journalism Awards Dinner, click here.