The Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, later called the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award, was an American journalism award presented from 1944 to 2011. Named in honor of Raymond Clapper (1892–1944), the award was given "to a journalist or team for distinguished

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reporting." The award was presented most often at the annual

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(WHCA) dinner, but for a period in the years 1951 to 1965 it was given at the annual

American Society of Newspaper Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of m ...

(ASNE) dinner. In the early days of the Award, it was often presented to the winner by the

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, who was usually a guest at the press dinner. Starting in 2004 the award was presented as part of

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's National Journalism Awards (later known as the Scripps Howard Awards). The Raymond Clapper Award was discontinued after 2011.

History

Reporter and

columnist Raymond Clapper died in 1944 during

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while covering the U.S. invasion of the

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. Following his death, the Raymond Clapper Memorial Association was incorporated in Washington, D.C. "to perpetuate the memory of Clapper" through the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award. "The organizing committee of the association was composed of the heads of various newspaper organizations in Washington," including

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, the Chicago Sun,

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, the

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, Overseas Writers Association, and the

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. Under the terms of the incorporation of the Clapper Memorial Association, "the Standing Committee of Correspondents, the governing body of the Washington press corps ... will be in complete control of the award, ... so that it will always be under the direction of the working, newspapermen of the national capital." The founding trustees of the Clapper Association were George B. Parker, editor-in-chief of

; Byron Price of the

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; and Eugene Meyer of ''

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''. Under Scripps Howard, the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award was presented from 2004 to 2011, at which point it was discontinued.

Overview

In 1993, the criteria for the Award was described as "...any Washington-based daily newspaper reporter whose work most closely approximated the ideals of fair and painstaking reporting, and the good craftsmanship of Raymond Clapper." The winner of the Award was selected by a panel of five editors/writers from a list of finalists. Most years, Honorable Mention and Second Place prizes were awarded as well.

List of awardees

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* {{cite web, title=Raymond Clapper Memorial Award winners (1944 to 2011), url=https://www.pressclubinstitute.org/raymond-clapper-memorial-award-winners-from-1944-to-2011/, author=Journalism Institute, publisher= National Press Club, access-date=Nov 15, 2023 1944 establishments in the United States 2012 disestablishments in the United States American journalism awards Awards established in 1944 Awards disestablished in 2012