Al Roker of NBC’s TODAY accepted the 2023 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism from the National Press Foundation at NPF’s February 15th, 2024 awards dinner in Washington, D.C.

NPF judges said Roker has “entered people’s homes and given them weather news, comfort and camaraderie for more than four decades.” And Roker, in his acceptance speech, pointed out that the dinner program said, “‘Roker has ‘entered’ people’s homes.’ You know as a black man, that’s not an easy thing to do.”

NPF established the Taishoff Award in 1983 thanks to a generous bequest from the late Sol Taishoff, journalism veteran and founder and editor of Broadcasting magazine. It recognizes distinguished service to broadcast journalism, whether during a lifetime of service or during an exceptional year’s work.

“As the world and industry has undergone huge transformation, Al’s steadfastness stands out,” said NPF judges. “He has built a community around the TODAY show that helps connect people from all over the world to ‘your neck of the woods.’”

In his career that began at an NBC News station in 1978, Roker has covered everything, from reporting inside Hurricane Wilma in 2005 to the inaugurations of President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden. He did a non-stop 34-hour “Rokerthon” in 2014, reported from all 50 states in 2015 and set Guinness World Records at colleges across the nation in 2017.

Previous winners of the Taishoff Award include Robin Roberts of ABC’s Good Morning America, Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, Audie Cornish, formerly of NPR News and now at CNN, Dana Bash of CNN, Lester Holt of NBC Nightly News and Bret Baier of Fox News.