The 2023 Fourth Estate Award Gala took place in the National Press Club ballroom on Nov. 28, 2023, bringing together journalists, communicators, and supporters from around the world to recognize excellence in a year of extraordinary challenges.
The evening honored:
- Kristen Welker, moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Fourth Estate Award
- Evan Gershkovich, Wall Street Journal reporter, John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award (domestic)
- Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award (international)
- Kat Stafford, Reuters’ global race and justice editor, Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism
You can learn more about the program in this visual guide, which includes information about the evening, honorees, and sponsors. The gala is a fundraiser supporting the National Press Club Journalism Institute, whose work powers journalism in the public interest. You can donate here to support the Institute’s work.
Meet the honorees
Fourth Estate Award
The Fourth Estate Award is the top honor bestowed on a journalist by the National Press Club Board of Governors. Previous winners include: Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blitzer, Lester Holt, Clarissa Ward, Susan Zirinsky, Dean Baquet, Marty Baron, Gwen Ifill, Andrea Mitchell, Tom Brokaw, and Walter Cronkite.
Kristen Welker became the 13th moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the longest-running show on television, on Sept. 17, 2023. She is the second woman to moderate the program and the first journalist of color to moderate a Sunday public affairs broadcast. Watch Welker’s remarks.
Welker, who on Aug. 26 appeared on her final broadcast as co-anchor of “Weekend TODAY,” is known for her political reporting, which has appeared across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms, including “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” “TODAY,” “Meet the Press,” and NBCNews.com. Welker joined “Weekend TODAY” as co-anchor in January 2020 and began covering the White House for NBC News in December 2011, traveling domestically and internationally with thenPresident Barack Obama, then-First Lady Michelle Obama, and then-Vice President Joe Biden. Welker also covered then-President Donald Trump’s administration, the 2020 presidential race, and led coverage of all aspects of President Biden’s administration before moving into her “Meet the Press” role.
During the 2020 general presidential election, Welker moderated the final presidential debate between Trump and Biden on Oct. 22, 2020, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Welker received universal praise for her performance, and USA TODAY wrote that she was “praised for ‘masterclass’ debate moderation.”
Prior to the White House beat, Welker was a network correspondent based in Burbank, California, joining NBC News in 2010. During her first year at the network, Welker was nominated for a national Emmy Award for her role in NBC News’ midterm election coverage. She won a national Emmy Award for her role in NBC News’ coverage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Welker was also a researcher on “Weekend TODAY” early in her career and an intern for “TODAY” while in college.
Welker previously worked at WCAU-TV, NBC’s Philadelphia-owned and -operated station, where she anchored the NBC 10 weekend newscasts and started as a general assignment reporter in April 2005. She also previously worked at WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and KRCR-TV in Redding, California.
Welker, a native of Philadelphia, graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in American history. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, John Hughes, and daughter, Margot Lane.
John Aubuchon Press Freedom Awards
Named for a former Club president who fervently advocated for press freedom, this award is given each year to one journalist in the United States and one journalist overseas who bravely pushes to disclose the truth in trying circumstances.
The 2023 Aubuchon honorees are Evan Gershkovich (domestic) and Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi (international).
Evan Gershkovich is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where he covers Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union. In March 2023, he was arrested in Russia while on a reporting trip and accused of espionage, making him the first American journalist detained in Russia on such charges since the Cold War. The Journal vehemently denies the allegations. President Biden and news organizations around the world have joined the Journal in calling for Gershkovich’s immediate release. Gershkovich, the American son of Soviet-born Jewish exiles, grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from Bowdoin College, a liberal-arts school in Maine, in 2014. Watch the Gershkovich family and Paul Beckett of The Wall Street Journal accept the award on Evan’s behalf.
Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were among the first journalists to report on the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. Asmini’s death set off some of the largest demonstrations in Iran in years, and Hamedi and Mohammadi’s coverage led to their unjust arrest. After being detained for 13 months, both women were sentenced in October to more than a dozen years in prison for what we know to be false charges of national security conspiracy and collaborating with the United States. Watch journalist Jason Rezaian accept the award on behalf of Hamedi and Mohammadi.
Neil & Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism
This award recognizes work that best reflects the Sheehans’ extraordinary commitment to the principle that a vibrant democracy depends on an informed citizenry and a free press.
Kat Stafford, global race and justice editor for Reuters and a former national investigative writer at The Associated Press, is a leading voice on representation and equity. Her investigative work analyzes how structural racism has fueled inequity through the lens of politics, government, health, and environmental justice. Among her journalistic work this year, she reported and published a series exploring how the legacy of racism in America has laid the foundation for health inequities Black people face throughout their lives. Watch Stafford’s remarks.
Photos from the gala
All photos by Melissa Lyttle and Lexey Swall
Thank you to our generous sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Al Jazeera | Bloomberg | NBC News | The Wall Street Journal
Silver Sponsors
The Drage Family | Robert Hastings & Associates LLC | The Washington Post
Spirit Sponsor
Distilled Spirits Council/Responsibility.org
Bronze Sponsor
Toyota
Patron Sponsors
Addis Communications | Ballard Spahr | Bell Flight | CBS News | CNN | Craig Newmark Philanthropies | Gannett/USA TODAY Network | Gaylord College of Journalism, University of Oklahoma | General Dynamics Corporation | Global Situation Room | National Rural Electric Cooperative Association | The New York Times | News Media Alliance | Eileen and Cary O’Reilly | Scripps News | SKDK | Syngenta | Trib Total Media | Volunteers of America
About the National Press Club
Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world’s leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major journalism organization and is a leading voice for press freedom in the United States and around the world.
About the National Press Club Journalism Institute
The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the nonprofit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest.
Tags: Fourth Estate