Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, will be honored with the National Press Foundation’s Chairman’s Citation award on Feb. 13.
Bumiller has led the Times’ capital bureau since September 2015. She will receive the Chairman’s Citation at NPF’s annual journalism awards dinner along with winners of eight other awards. More details on the dinner are here.
Kathy Gest, chair of NPF’s board of directors, said: “This year’s Chairman’s Citation goes to Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, who has led the paper’s Washington coverage during a period of increasing challenges for journalism. Despite frequent jabs from the president of the United States at both the paper and individual staff members, the Times’ talented Washington bureau staff, under Bumiller’s leadership, has generated insightful and courageous coverage of the function and dysfunction of government. Since Donald Trump’s arrival in Washington, the bureau has produced story after leading-edge story detailing the investigations, charges, shakeups and general disorder that have characterized the new administration. Bumiller has been in the center of it all in what Times’ editor Dean Baquet has described as ‘the newsiest place at the New York Times.’ ”
The Chairman’s Citation was established in 1996 to honor individuals whose accomplishments fall outside the traditional categories of excellence in journalism. A list of past recipients, including Sally Jenkins, Michael Bloomberg, Peter Pritchard and Colbert I. King, can be seen here.
Bumiller oversees daily operations and leads all news coverage from Washington for the Times. Previously, she held the position of Washington editor and before that, deputy Washington bureau chief, overseeing White House and domestic policy reporting. She covered the Pentagon, John McCain’s 2008 campaign and, from 2001 to 2006, she was a White House correspondent.
Before moving to Washington, Bumiller was the Times’ City Hall bureau chief, responsible for covering Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his Senate race against Hillary Rodham Clinton from 1999 to 2001. Before that, Bumiller worked on the Times’ Metropolitan staff in New York as a general assignment reporter and as one of the writers of the Public Lives column. From 1979 to 1985, she worked for The Washington Post in Washington, New Delhi, Tokyo and New York.
The National Press Foundation is an independent nonprofit that is run by and for journalists. NPF’s sole mission is to educate journalists about today’s most pressing issues and critical toolbox training.