The Fund for American Studies is proud to announce the creation of the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism. The fellowship is named in honor of Joseph Rago, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal who died last year at the age of 34. The annual fellowship will allow one aspiring journalist to serve with the Journal’s editorial team in a year-long internship position.
Joe was a treasured colleague who contributed enormously to The Wall Street Journal and set the highest standard of excellence and integrity.” – Paul Gigot, Editorial Page Editor and Vice President
The Wall Street Journal
“We’re honored to host the recipients of the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism. Joe was a treasured colleague who contributed enormously to The Wall Street Journal and set the highest standard of excellence and integrity,” says Paul Gigot, editorial page editor and vice president of the Journal. “Thanks to the generosity of Paul and Nancy Rago and The Fund for American Studies, we’ll be able to give aspiring journalists the opportunity and training to make a similar contribution.”
Joseph Rago joined the paper after graduating from Dartmouth College in 2005. He quickly made a name for himself with in-depth interviews eliciting fresh insights from figures such as Tom Wolfe and William F. Buckley Jr. Joe began writing editorials in 2007, and in 2011 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “his well crafted, against-the-grain editorials challenging the health care reform advocated by President Obama.”
Joe will be remembered not only for his journalism but for his intellectual curiosity and great capacity for friendship. “We are pleased to honor the life of our son Joe, who lived his life with integrity, humility, wisdom and dedication to excellence,” say his parents, Paul and Nancy Rago. “It is our hope that this fund will provide others with the opportunity to achieve the ideals that he so highly valued.”
We are pleased to honor the life of our son Joe, who lived his life with integrity, humility, wisdom and dedication to excellence. It is our hope that this fund will provide others with the opportunity to achieve the ideals that he so highly valued.” – Paul and Nancy Rago
The Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship will be open to recent college and journalism school graduates and journalists with less than five years’ experience. Rago Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in educational and professional programs in New York and Washington, D.C. alongside The Fund for American Studies’ Robert Novak Journalism Fellows. From the start, Rago Fellows will be part of a community that includes some of the nation’s leading writers, reporters and editors.
Donations in support of the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism may be made online at www.TFAS.org/RagoFellowship/Support, or by phone at 202-986-0384. To make a gift by mail, please send your check made payable to The Fund for American Studies to 1706 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
More details of the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship can be found at www.TFAS.org/RagoFellowship. The inaugural Rago Fellow will be introduced at the 25th Annual Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Awards Dinner on Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Metropolitan Club of New York.