Fourth Estate Award - Past Recipients
The Club confers the annual Fourth Estate Award on the person who, in the judgment of the NPC Board of Governors, has achieved distinction for a lifetime of contributions to American journalism. Recommendations are made by a distinguished committee representing all branches of news media. The award is presented at a festive dinner attended by more than 300 NPC members, guests and media luminaries. The event is a fundraiser for the Club’s 501 (c) (3) National Press Club Journalism Institute which provides training for news professionals, research for journalists and other media professionals, and journalism scholarships.
Past Fourth Estate Award Winners
| Year | Winner | Organization |
| 2024 | Mike Allen & Jim VandeHei | Axios |
| 2023 | Kristen Welker | NBC |
| 2022 | Clarissa Ward | CNN |
| 2021 | Lester Holt | NBC News |
| 2020 | Susan Zirinsky | CBS News |
| 2019 | Amanda Bennett | Voice of America |
| 2018 | Martin Baron & Dean Baquet | The Washington Post and The New York Times |
| 2017 | Tony Kornheiser & Michael Wilbon | ESPN |
| 2016 | Wolf Blitzer | CNN |
| 2015 | Gwen Ifill | PBS Newshour |
| 2013 | Andrea Mitchell | NBC News |
| 2012 | Bob Woodward | The Washington Post |
| 2011 | Jim Lehrer | PBS Newshour |
| 2010 | Bob Schieffer | CBS News |
| 2009 | Thomas Friedman | The New York Times |
| 2008 | Christiane Amanpour | CNN |
| 2007 | Paul E. Steiger | The Wall Street Journal |
| 2006 | Marvin Kalb | The Joan Shorenstein Center for Press and Public Policy, Harvard University |
| 2005 | Austin Kiplinger | Kiplinger Washington Editors |
| 2004 | William J. Raspberry | Washington Post Writers Group |
| 2003 | Tom Brokaw | NBC Nightly News |
| 2002 | Brian Lamb | C-SPAN |
| 2001 | Robert D. Novak | Syndicated Columnist |
| 2000 | Jack W. Germond | The Baltimore Sun |
| 1999 | Carl T. Rowan | Syndicated Columnist |
| 1998 | Mary McGrory | The Washington Post |
| 1997 | James M. Perry | The Wall Street Journal |
| 1996 | Charles R. McDowell | The Richmond Times-Dispatch |
| 1995 | Shirley Povich | The Washington Post |
| 1994 | Charles Kuralt | CBS News |
| 1993 | Eugene Roberts | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| 1992 | George Tames | The New York Times |
| 1991 | Peter Arnett | Cable News Network |
| 1990 | Mike Royko | Chicago Tribune |
| 1989 | Russell Baker | The New York Times |
| 1988 | David S. Broder | The Washington Post |
| 1987 | David Brinkley | ABC News |
| 1986 | Art Buchwald | Syndicated Columnist |
| 1985 | Flora Lewis | The New York Times |
| 1984 | Helen Thomas | United Press International |
| 1983 | Eric Sevareid | CBS News |
| 1982 | Simeon S. Booker | Johnson Publishing Company Inc. |
| 1981 | Nick B. Williams | Los Angeles Times |
| 1980 | Theodore H. White | Author |
| 1979 | Clayton Kirkpatrick | Chicago Tribune |
| 1978 | Vermont Royster | The Wall Street Journal |
| 1977 | Herbert Block | The Washington Post |
| 1976 | John S. Knight | Knight-Ridder Newspapers |
| 1975 | Richard Strout | The Christian Science Monitor and New Republic |
| 1974 | James Reston | The New York Times |
| 1973 | Walter Cronkite | CBS News |