The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award as "one of only a couple of journalism prizes that means anything".[1][2][3][4] The award is described as follows:
George Polk Awards in Journalism | |
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Awarded for | To honor excellence in print and broadcast journalism |
Country | United States |
Presented by | Long Island University |
First awarded | 1949 |
Website | www |
For 75 years, LIU has been the proud home of the George Polk Awards in Journalism, the first major award of its kind to recognize reporting across all media. This prestigious honor focuses on the intrepid, bold, and influential work of the reporters themselves, placing a premium on investigative work that is original, resourceful, and thought-provoking.[5]
The awards were established in 1949 in memory of George Polk, a CBS correspondent who was murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek Civil War (1946–49). In 2009, former New York Times editor John Darnton was named curator of the George Polk Awards.[6][7]
Josh Marshall's blog, Talking Points Memo, was the first blog to receive the Polk Award in 2008 for its reporting on the 2006 U.S. Attorneys scandal.[8] In 2024, The New York Times won the Polk Award for its "unsurpassed coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas",[9] leading to criticism from academics, such as Steven Thrasher, who stated the NYT's article Screams Without Words had been discredited.[10]
In addition, the George Polk Career Award is given in recognition of an individual's lifelong achievements.