White House Correspondents' Association
Organization covering the US executive branch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson.[4]
 | |
| Abbreviation | WHCA |
|---|---|
| Formation | February 25, 1914 |
| 52-0799067[1] | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[1] |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 38°53′52″N 77°03′18″W |
| Weijia Jiang (CBS News)[2] | |
| Steven Thomma[2] | |
| Revenue | $366,481[3] (2015) |
| Expenses | $311,090[3] (2015) |
| Employees | 0[3] (2015) |
| Website | whca |
The WHCA operates independently of the White House. Application for membership is made online and granted by the association on the basis of criteria. Historically, notable issues handled by the WHCA were the credentialing process, access to the president and physical conditions in the White House press briefing rooms.[2][5] Its most high-profile activity is the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, which is traditionally attended by the president and covered by the news media.
In February 2025, the White House announced that the WHCA would no longer determine which outlets are allowed access to the president.[6][needs update]
Association leadership
The leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association for 2025–26 includes:[2]
- Officers
- President: Weijia Jiang, CBS News
- Vice President: Justin Sink, Bloomberg News
- Treasurer: Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News
- Secretary: Brian Bennett, Time
- Board members
- Sara Cook, CBS News
- Andrew Harnik, Getty Images
- Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters
- Courtney Subramanian, Bloomberg News
- Karen Travers, ABC News
- Executive Director
- Steven Thomma
Association presidents
| Year | Name | Employer |
|---|---|---|
| 1914–20 | William Wallace Price | The Washington Star |
| 1921–22 | Frank R. Lamb | |
| 1922–23 | J. Russell Young | |
| 1923–24 | E. Ross Bartley | Associated Press |
| 1924–25 | Isaac Gregg | The Sun |
| 1925–26 | George E. Durno | International News Service |
| 1926–27 | John Edwin Nevin | The Washington Post |
| 1927–28 | John T. Lambert | Universal Service |
| 1928–29 | J. Russell Young | The Washington Star |
| 1929–30 | Wilbur Forrest | New York Herald Tribune |
| 1930–31 | Lewis Wood | The New York Times |
| 1931–33 | Paul R. Mallon | syndicated columnist |
| 1933–34 | George E. Durno | International News Service |
| 1934–35 | Francis M. Stephenson | Associated Press |
| 1935–36 | Albert J. Warner | New York Herald Tribune |
| 1936–37 | Frederick J. Storm | United Press Associations |
| 1937–38 | Walter J. Trohan | Chicago Tribune |
| 1938–40 | Earl Godwin | The Washington Times |
| 1940 | Felix Belair Jr. | The New York Times |
| 1940–41 | Thomas F. Reynolds | United Press Associations |
| 1941–42 | John C. O'Brien | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| 1942 | John C. Henry | The Washington Star |
| 1942–43 | Douglas B. Cornell | Associated Press |
| 1943–44 | Paul Wooten | The Times-Picayune |
| 1944–45 | Merriman Smith | United Press Associations |
| 1946–47 | Edward T. Folliard | The Washington Post |
| 1947–48 | Felix Belair Jr. | The New York Times |
| 1948–49 | Ernest B. ("Tony") Vaccaro | Associated Press |
| 1949–50 | Robert G. Nixon | International News Service |
| 1950–53 | Carlton Kent | Chicago Sun-Times |
| 1953–54 | Robert J. Donovan | New York Herald Tribune |
| 1954–55 | Anthony H. Leviero | The New York Times |
| 1955–56 | Laurence H. Burd | Chicago Tribune |
| 1956–58 | Francis M. Stephenson | Daily News |
| 1958–59 | Marvin Arrowsmith | Associated Press |
| 1959–61 | Garnett D. Horner | The Washington Star |
| 1961–62 | William H.Y. Knighton Jr. | The Baltimore Sun |
| 1962–63 | Robert Roth | Philadelphia Bulletin |
| 1963–64 | Merriman Smith | United Press International |
| 1964–66 | Alan L. Otten | The Wall Street Journal |
| 1966–67 | Robert E. Thompson | Hearst Newspapers |
| 1967–68 | Frank Cormier | Associated Press |
| 1968–69 | Carroll Kilpatrick | The Washington Post |
| 1969–70 | Charles W. Bailey II | Minneapolis Tribune |
| 1970–71 | Peter Lisagor | Chicago Daily News |
| 1971–72 | John P. Sutherland | U.S. News & World Report |
| 1972–73 | Edgar A. Poe | The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) |
| 1973–74 | Ted Knap | Scripps Howard Newspapers |
| 1974–75 | James Deakin | St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
| 1976–77 | Lawrence M. O'Rourke | Philadelphia Bulletin |
| 1977–78 | Paul F. Healy | Daily News |
| 1978–79 | Aldo Beckman | Chicago Tribune |
| 1979–80 | Ralph Harris | Reuters |
| 1980–81 | Robert C. Pierpoint | CBS News |
| 1981–82 | Clifford Evans | RKO General Broadcasting |
| 1982–83 | Thomas M. DeFrank | Newsweek |
| 1983–84 | James R. Gerstenzang | Associated Press |
| 1984–85 | Sara Fritz | Los Angeles Times |
| 1985–86 | Gary F. Schuster | CBS News |
| 1986–87 | Bill Plante | |
| 1987–88 | Norman D. Sandler | United Press International |
| 1988–89 | Jeremiah O'Leary | The Washington Times |
| 1989–90 | Johanna Neuman | USA Today |
| 1990–91 | Robert M. Ellison | Sheridan Broadcasting |
| 1991–92 | Charles Bierbauer | CNN |
| 1992–93 | Karen Hosler | The Baltimore Sun |
| 1993–94 | George E. Condon Jr. | Copley News Service |
| 1994–95 | Kenneth T. Walsh | U.S. News & World Report |
| 1995–96 | Carl P. Leubsdorf | The Dallas Morning News |
| 1996–97 | Terence Hunt | Associated Press |
| 1997–98 | Laurence McQuillan | Reuters |
| 1998–99 | Stewart Powell | Hearst Newspapers |
| 1999–2000 | Susan Page | USA Today |
| 2000–01 | Arlene Dillon | CBS News |
| 2001–02 | Steve Holland | Reuters |
| 2002–03 | Bob Deans | Cox Newspapers |
| 2003–04 | Carl M. Cannon | National Journal |
| 2004–05 | Ron Hutcheson | Knight Ridder |
| 2005–06 | Mark Smith | Associated Press TV and Radio |
| 2006–07 | Steve Scully | C-SPAN |
| 2007–08 | Ann Compton | ABC News |
| 2008–09 | Jennifer Loven | Associated Press |
| 2009–10 | Edwin Chen | Bloomberg |
| 2010–11 | David Jackson | USA Today |
| 2011–12 | Caren Bohan | Reuters |
| 2012–13 | Ed Henry | Fox News |
| 2013–14 | Steven Thomma | McClatchy |
| 2014–15 | Christi Parsons | Tribune Media |
| 2015–16 | Carol Lee | Wall Street Journal |
| 2016–17 | Jeff Mason | Reuters |
| 2017–18 | Margaret Talev | Bloomberg |
| 2018–19 | Olivier Knox[7] | Sirius XM |
| 2019–20 | Jonathan Karl[8] | ABC News |
| 2020–21 | Zeke Miller[9] | Associated Press |
| 2021–22 | Steven Portnoy[10] | CBS News Radio |
| 2022–23 | Tamara Keith | NPR |
| 2023–24 | Kelly O'Donnell | NBC News |
| 2024–25 | Eugene Daniels[11] | Politico |
| 2025–26 | Weijia Jiang[12] | CBS News |
| 2026–27 | Justin Sink (elect)[13] | Bloomberg News |
White House press room
The WHCA is responsible for assigning the seats and the standing room in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House. Even though the press office issues the passes for each session of press briefing, the correspondents' association decides who sits where. The board of directors assigns news sources to certain positions, which change about each 3–4 years.
Most media providers have their own seat, but some share seats with other providers.
The association usually publishes the seating chart on its website every time a new one is decided and comes into effect.[14][15]
White House Correspondents' Dinner
The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1921, has become a Washington, D.C., tradition, and is traditionally attended by the president and vice president. The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.
Awards
- Note: Award years represent the date the work was published/broadcast, which is always one year before the prize was awarded.
The Aldo Beckman Memorial Award
The Aldo Beckman Award for Journalistic Excellence is an annual award sponsored by the WHCA. Established in 1981, it recognizes "a correspondent who personifies the journalistic excellence and personal qualities of Aldo Beckman"[16] for overall excellence in White House coverage.[17] Described by CBS News as "one of journalism's most prestigious awards", past recipients include David E. Sanger, Mark Knoller, Glenn Thrush, Kenneth T. Walsh, and Carl M. Cannon.[18][19]
Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure
The award was established in 1970 as the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for outstanding examples of deadline reporting.[17] (Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1970.) The award was renamed in 2022 after the WHCA determined that Smith had supported excluding Black and female journalists from membership in the National Press Club and from attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner.[68][69]
| Year | Recipient | Category | Employer | Article / Show | Notes / Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | |||||
| 1971 | |||||
| 1972 | |||||
| 1973 | |||||
| 1974 | Douglas C. Wilson | The Providence Journal | Resignation of President Nixon | [70][71] | |
| 1975 | Aldo Beckman | Chicago Tribune | "Sarah Jane Moore's assassination attempt on President Ford" | [72][73] | |
| 1976 | |||||
| 1977 | Michael J. Sniffen and Richard E. Meyer | AP | Bert Lance used the same stock as collateral for two different loans. | [74] | |
| 1978 | Edward Walsh | The Camp David Summit Conference | [75] | ||
| 1979 | |||||
| 1980 | John Palmer | Broadcast | NBC News | "...the failed attempt by President Jimmy Carter's administration to rescue the American hostages in Iran". | [76][77] |
| Lars-Erik Nelson and Frank Van Riper | New York Daily News | "deadline coverage of the negotiations to free American hostages held in Iran during the Carter administration". | [78] | ||
| 1981 | |||||
| 1982 | |||||
| 1983 | Staff | Newsweek | "Coverage of the bombing of Marine headquarters in Lebanon" | [21] | |
| 1984 | David Hoffman | The Washington Post | "President Reagan's blaming a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut on the 'near destruction' of U.S. intelligence during the Carter administration." | [22] | |
| 1985 | |||||
| 1986 | Owen Ullmann | Knight Ridder | "The Reykjavík Summit" | [24] | |
| 1987 | Gerald F. Seib | The Wall Street Journal | [25] | ||
| 1988 | |||||
| 1989 | Norman D. Sandler | UPI | [26] | ||
| 1990 | Steve Taylor | Broadcast | Unistar Radio Networks | "President Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia." | [27] |
| Norman D. Sandler | UPI | "1990 Helsinki summit" | [27][79] | ||
| 1991 | Susan Page | Newsday | Gulf War | [28] | |
| 1992 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | Mutual-NBC Radio | Live coverage of President George Bush's collapse at an official dinner in Tokyo | [29] |
| David Espo | AP | Deadline reporting on Election Day 1992 | [29] | ||
| 1993 | Mara Liasson | Broadcast | National Public Radio | [31] | |
| Terrence Hunt | Associated Press | ||||
| 1994 | Mara Liasson | Broadcast | NPR | [80] | |
| William Neikirk | Chicago Tribune | [32] | |||
| 1995 | Mark Knoller | Broadcast | CBS News | "Writing and broadcasting multiple breaking stories ... about a White House intruder." | [33] |
| Peter Maer | Mutual/NBC Radio | "Outstanding broadcast of President Clinton's attendance at the funeral of the Israeli Prime Minister." | |||
| Susan Cornwell | Reuters America | President Clinton and taxes: "For getting a scoop from an on-the-record presidential speech.... Cornwell's entry was the only one that caused second-day stories (and more) to be written. It not only covered news; it created news." | [33][81][82] | ||
| 1996 | Mara Liasson | Broadcast | National Public Radio | "Spot news coverage of the 1996 election campaign"; "she found time to ... deliver an insightful audio portrait of a small California town that President Clinton visited last October." | [34] |
| Ron Fournier | Associated Press | "An exclusive on President Clinton's new cabinet choices for the second term." | [34] | ||
| 1997 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | NBC Radio/Mutual News | "Evocative radio account of President Clinton's visit to Little Rock Central High School, 40 years after the school was integrated." | [36][35] |
| Ron Fournier | Associated Press | "President Clinton's knee injury that sent him to the hospital in the middle of the night." | [36][35] | ||
| 1998 | Jodi Enda | Knight Ridder | "President Clinton's meeting with survivors of genocide in Rwanda...." | [37] | |
| 1999 | Gary Nurenberg | Broadcast | KTLA-TV, Tribune Broadcasting | "Monica Lewinsky Deposed" | [38][39] |
| Jodi Enda | Knight Ridder Newspapers | "A poignant story about an emotional day in Kosovo." | [38][39] | ||
| 2000 | Jim Angle | Broadcast | Fox News Channel | [40] | |
| Sandra Sobieraj | Associated Press | [40] | |||
| 2001 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | CBS News | [41] | |
| Ron Fournier | Associated Press | [41] | |||
| 2002 | Jim Angle | Broadcast | Fox News Channel | [42] | |
| David Sanger | The New York Times | [42] | |||
| 2003 | Mike Allen | The Washington Post | [43] | ||
| 2004 | Ron Fournier | Associated Press | [44] | ||
| Jackie Calmes | The Wall Street Journal | Honorable Mention[44] | |||
| 2005 | Terry Moran | Broadcast | ABC News | [45] | |
| Deb Riechmann | Associated Press | [45] | |||
| 2006 | Martha Raddatz | Broadcast | ABC News | [46] | |
| David Sanger | The New York Times | [46] | |||
| 2007 | Ed Henry | Broadcast | CNN | [47] | |
| Deb Riechmann | Associated Press | [47] | |||
| 2008 | David Greene | Broadcast | NPR | [48] | |
| Sandra Sobieraj Westfall | People magazine | [48] | |||
| 2009 | Jake Tapper | Broadcast | ABC News | [49] | |
| Ben Feller | Associated Press | [49] | |||
| 2010 | Jake Tapper | Broadcast | ABC News | [50] | |
| Dan Balz | The Washington Post | [50] | |||
| 2011 | Jake Tapper | Broadcast | ABC News | Reporting that "Standard & Poor was on the verge of downgrading America's triple-A credit rating because of concerns over political gridlock in Washington" | [51] |
| Glenn Thrush, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan | Politico | "The deal between Barack Obama and congressional Republicans to raise the U.S. debt ceiling." | [51] | ||
| 2012 | Terry Moran | Broadcast | ABC News | On-air interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling of Obama's Health Care Reform Law | [52] |
| Julie Pace | Associated Press | 2012 Obama campaign's get-out-the-vote strategy | |||
| 2013 | Peter Maer | Broadcast | CBS News | "Sequestration" | [53][54] |
| Peter Baker | The New York Times | "Obama Seeks Approval by Congress for Strike in Syria" | |||
| 2014 | Jim Avila | Broadcast | ABC News | Cuba/Alan Gross | [55][56] |
| Josh Lederman | Associated Press | Fence Jumper | |||
| 2015 | Norah O'Donnell | Broadcast | CBS News | "60 Minutes interview with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden on his decision not to run for president" in 2016. | [57][58] |
| Matt Viser | The Boston Globe | "An Inside Look at How the Iran Talks Unfolded" | |||
| 2016 | Edward-Isaac Dovere | Politico | "How Obama set a trap for Raul Castro" | [83] | |
| 2017 | Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto, Jake Tapper and Carl Bernstein | Broadcast | CNN | Intelligence community's briefing of Obama and Trump "that Russia had compromising information about Trump." | [60] |
| Josh Dawsey | Politico | "Resignation of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer" | |||
| 2018 | Ed Henry | Broadcast | Fox News | Interview with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt | [84] |
| Josh Dawsey | Washington Post | ||||
| 2019 | Alan Cullison, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Dustin Volz | The Wall Street Journal | "Trump Repeatedly Pressed Ukraine to Investigate Biden's Son" | [62] | |
| Broadcast | CNN | "FBI. Open the door." | |||
| 2020 | Michael Balsamo | Associated Press | "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud" | [85][86] | |
| Jonathan Karl | Broadcast | ABC News | Trump getting COVID and being rushed to the hospital | [85] | |
| 2021 | Zeke Miller and Mike Balsamo | Associated Press | CDC mask order | [87] | |
| Jonathan Karl | Broadcast | ABC News | January 6 United States Capitol attack coverage | [87] | |
| 2022 | Jeff Mason | Reuters | "Exclusive: Biden to waive tariffs for 24 months on solar panels hit by probe" | [65] | |
| Phil Mattingly | Broadcast | CNN | Zelensky's White House visit | ||
| 2023 | Peter Baker | The New York Times | Coverage of President Biden's visit to Israel just days after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel | [66] | |
| Tamara Keith | Broadcast | NPR | Audio report of President Biden’s trip to Israel | ||
| 2025 | Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller | Associated Press | Madhani and Miller caught the White House press office trying to alter the official account of history — the White House transcript of Biden’s use of the word “garbage” to describe supporters of Donald Trump. | [88] |
Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability
A $10,000 prize to "recognize an individual or newsgathering team for coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance in line with the human and professional qualities exemplified by the late Katharine Graham, the distinguished former publisher of The Washington Post. Debuted in 2020.[89]
| Year | Recipient | Employer | Article / Show | Notes / Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ProPublica | "Death in the Pacific" | [62] | |
| 2020 | The Marshall Project, AL.com, the IndyStar, and Invisible Institute | "Mauled: When Police Dogs are Weapons" | [63] | |
| 2021 | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Washington Post, "and media partners around the world" | Pandora Papers | [64] | |
| 2022 | Josh Gerstein and Alex Ward | Politico | Decision "to report, verify and publish the draft Supreme Court opinion reversing abortion rights – and the organization’s follow-up work exploring the consequences of the decision...." | [65] |
| 2023 | The Washington Post | "The Washington Post shows courage, sensitivity and originality in breaking with journalism industry norms to inform and show readers how the AR-15 weapon inflicts horrific damage to the human body." | [66] |
Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists
$1,000 "award recognizes a video or photojournalist for uniquely covering the presidency from a journalistic standpoint, either at the White House or in the field. This could be breaking news, a scheduled event or feature coverage."[65] Debuted in 2020.
| Year | Recipient | Employer | Work | Notes / Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Doug Mills | The New York Times | "The Pelosi Clap" | [62] |
| 2020 | Win McNamee | Getty Images | Trump and Fauci | [63] |
| 2021 | Brendan Smialowski | Agence France-Presse | "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wait for a meeting at Villa La Grange June 16, 2021, in Geneva." | [64] |
| 2022 | Doug Mills | The New York Times | "President Joe Biden walks between the Marine Honor Guard as he enters an event to celebrate the passage of H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022." | [65] |
| 2023 | Doug Mills | The New York Times | President Biden boarding Air Force One as he leaves Warsaw, Poland | [66] |
Discontinued awards
The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award
Named in honor of the distinguished correspondent Edgar Allen Poe (1906–1998),[90] a former WHCA president unrelated to the American fiction writer of the nearly identical name.[91] Funded by the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Newhouse Newspapers,[90] the award honored excellence in news coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance to the American people.[92] The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award was presented from 1990 to 2019, when it was replaced by the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability and the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists.
Notable past winners of the award include Rochelle Sharpe, Marjie Lundstrom, Michael Tackett, Russell Carollo, Cheryl Reed, Michael Isikoff, Sam Roe, Sean Naylor, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, Marcus Stern, Megan Twohey, David Fahrenthold, and Norah O'Donnell.
Raymond Clapper Memorial Award
Named in honor of Raymond Clapper (1892-1944) and given "to a journalist or team for distinguished Washington reporting."[93] The award was presented from 1944 to 2003, usually at the WHCA dinner[94] (although in the period 1951–1965 it was presented at the American Society of News Editors annual dinner).[95][96]
In 2004, the award passed to the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards.[93] Under Scripps Howard, the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award was presented until 2011, at which point it was discontinued.[97]
Notable past winners of the Raymond Clapper Award included Ernie Pyle, Nicholas Lemann, Clark R. Mollenhoff, James Reston, Joseph Albright, Morton Mintz, Adam Liptak, Helene Cooper, Jean Heller, Newbold Noyes Jr., Thomas Lunsford Stokes, Tom Squitieri, Marcus Stern, Susan Feeney, Doris Fleeson, James Polk, James V. Risser, and William Neikirk.
