Join us on Monday, April 26, 2004 for the 27th Annual Frank Premack Memorial Awards, celebrating the best public affairs reporting in Minnesota newspapers. This year we are pleased to welcome Dan Balz from the Washington Post, who will engage the audience in a lively conversation about politics, government and the media.
Balz will be introduced by Frank Wright, Premack Board Member and former Minneapolis Star Tribune editor. Balz's presentation will be delivered in a conversational, question-and-answer format. This lecture is preceded by an awards presentation, which honors journalistic excellence in five categories.
The winners this year were the Minneapolis Star Tribune for the Metro Daily award; the Associated Press for the Hage Award; The Timberjay for the Weekly award; and the St. Paul Pioneer Press for the Opinion Writing award. WCCO-AM newsman Eric Eskola was selected as the Graven Award winner for his contributions to Minnesota journalism. Read the press release. Balz joined the Washington Post in 1978 and has been involved in the paper's political coverage as a reporter or editor during his 25 years at the paper.In addition to his political reporting, he has served as the Post's National Editor, covered the White House during the period of the first Bush administration and has written extensively about Congress. He also served as the paper's Southwest correspondent, based in Texas and briefly reported from London during the fall of 1997.
Balz is co-author, with Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times, of the 1996 book "Storming the Gates: Protest Politics and the Republican Revival," a description of the Republican victories in the 1994 elections. He was part of the Post team that produced "Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election," a narrative of the recount battle in Florida that decided the 2000 presidential election.
He is a past recipient of the American Political Science Association's award for political coverage and shared the Gerald R. Ford Award for coverage of the presidency for a series written with the Post's Bob Woodward and entitled "Ten Days in September," an inside portrait of the Bush War Cabinet in the days immediately after Sept. 11, 2001.
He has been a frequent guest on PBS's "Washington Week," CBS's "Face The Nation," PBS's "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," and other programs.
Before coming to the Post , he was a reporter and editor at National Journal magazine and also worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer . He was born in Freeport , Ill. , and earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Illinois . He served in the U.S. Army from 1968-1971. He is married to Nancy Johnson Balz, and they are the parents of a son, John. They live in Bethesda , Maryland.
The Frank Premack Public Affairs Journalism Award competition is one of Minnesota 's most coveted and celebrated journalism honors. Started after the death in 1975 of Frank Premack, a reporter, city editor and assistant managing editor at the Minneapolis Tribune, the competition seeks entries from Minnesota newspapers doing public affairs journalism in their community or region. The journalists submitting the winning entries receive a $500 check, while each of the winning newspapers receives a special citation. The entries are judged by a panel of citizens representing the Minnesota community and public life in the arts, education, journalism, law, and politics. |
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