The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is thrilled to announce that Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris is being honored with its inaugural Gwen Ifill Award.
Each year, the award will recognize an outstanding female journalist of color whose work carries forward Ifill’s legacy of mentoring and supporting other women journalists. Ifill, who passed away in November 2016, was a friend of the IWMF, and served as co-anchor of the PBS NewsHour alongside IWMF founder Judy Woodruff.
“We couldn’t be more delighted to recognize Michele Norris with our first Gwen Ifill Award,” said Elisa Lees Muñoz, executive director of the IWMF. “Beyond being an exceptional journalist whose work has educated and illuminated minds across the U.S., she’s been a stellar mentor to countless other women journalists, including young women of color.”
Candidates for the award were evaluated on criteria that included their record of outstanding achievement in journalism, and the extent to which they represent the values Ifill embodied, including in the areas of mentorship, leadership and commitment to diversity in journalism.
Norris will accept the Gwen Ifill Award at the IWMF’s Courage in Journalism Awards ceremonies taking place in New York City on October 18, and in Washington, D.C. on October 23. The IWMF is also developing a corresponding program around the Gwen Ifill Award to support journalism students and women journalists of color working in the news media.
