The Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, later called the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award, was an American journalism award presented from 1944 to 2011. Named in honor of Raymond Clapper (1892–1944), the award was given "to a journalist or team for distinguished Washington reporting."
Starting in 2004 the award was presented as part of Scripps Howard's National Journalism Awards (later known as the Scripps Howard Awards). The Raymond Clapper Award was discontinued after 2011.[2]
History
Reporter and Scripps Howard columnist Raymond Clapper died in 1944 during World War II while covering the U.S. invasion of the Marshall Islands. Following his death, the Raymond Clapper Memorial Association[a] was incorporated in Washington, D.C. "to perpetuate the memory of Clapper"[4] through the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award.[5]
Under the terms of the incorporation of the Clapper Memorial Association, "the Standing Committee of Correspondents, the governing body of the Washington press corps ... will be in complete control of the award, ... so that it will always be under the direction of the working, newspapermen of the national capital."[4]
In 1993, the criteria for the Award was described as "...any Washington-based daily newspaper reporter whose work most closely approximated the ideals of fair and painstaking reporting, and the good craftsmanship of Raymond Clapper."[6]
The winner of the Award was selected by a panel of five editors/writers from a list of finalists.[4] Most years, Honorable Mention and Second Place prizes were awarded as well.
^Johnson, Owen V.; Hays, Holly (Spring 2016). "Wrestling with fame: Ernie Pyle and the Pulitzer Prize". Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. 2 (2). Indiana Historical Society Press. Pyle was awarded the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award from the journalism fraternity Sigma Delta Chi (today called the Society of Professional Journalists) for distinguished foreign correspondence.
^"In pictures: The history of the White House Correspondents' Dinner". CNN. April 29, 2023. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ... shakes hands with Raymond P. Brandt, chief of the Washington bureau of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, at the 1945 dinner. Roosevelt was congratulating Brandt for winning the first Raymond Clapper Memorial Award....
^"Truman is Guest at Writers' Fete". The Southwest Times. Vol. 41, no. 8. Pulaski, Virginia. March 3, 1946. ...twenty-third annual banquet of the White House correspondents association.... It was the association's first 'black tie' affair since Pearl Harbor.
^"Won Pulitzer Prize". The Washington Post. Dec 12, 1982. Mr. Finney won the Pulitzer in 1948. In the same year, he won the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award for Washington reporting.
^AP (Feb 10, 1987). "JOHN M. HIGHTOWER, REPORTER". The New York Times. In 1952, he was the first person ever to win three top journalism awards in the same year, receiving the Pulitzer for his reporting of diplomatic affairs in 1951, the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award for meritorious work in reporting international affairs and the Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished Washington correspondence.
^UPI (April 19, 1953). "Lucey Wins Writing Award". Daily Inter Lake. Kalispell, Montana. The ninth annual Raymond Clapper Memorial Award went to Charles Lucey, chief political writer for the Scripps Howard Newspaper Alliance Saturday.... A $500 cash prize accompanies the award.
^"Mollenhoff gets Clapper Award"(PDF). Congressional Record — House. April 25, 1956. p. 7024. Mr. Mollenhoff, 12th winner of the award established in memory of the late Washington correspondent, received a $500 check and a scroll in a ceremony at the closing dinner of the American Society of Newspaper Editors at the Hotel Statler
^STEARNS, JESSIE (May 4, 1963). "Washington". OPC Bulletin. Morton Mintz, Washington Post reporter, received 19th annual Raymond Clapper Memorial Award. The $1,000 cash award was announced at the Editors' Dinner, April 20.
^AP (April 20, 1965). "Reporters Get Baker Stories Award". The Kingston Daily Freeman. Kingston, New York. p. 6. The winning entry ... was announced Saturday during a meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
^"EUGENE ROWAN DIES". The Washington Post. Oct 20, 1995. Tom Lambert, 83, a former foreign correspondent and public affairs spokesman for the Department of Defense, died of cancer Oct. 15 at his home in Fairfax.... In 1969, he won the Raymond Clapper Award for his story, 'Inside Look at the Green Beret Case.'
^Sommer, Cassy (Sep 5, 2016). "Advance historic page from May 9, 1971: Reporter wins award". Staten Island Advance. Today's archive page is from May 9, 1971. Jared D. Stout, reporter for the Advance Washington Bureau and the Newhouse News Service, is named winner of the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award for 'exceptionally meritorious' work in covering Washington news during 1970.... The award — $1,000 in cash and a scroll — is presented at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner.
^"Alumni News". Alumni Newsletter. School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Murphy Hall, University of Minnesota. April 1973. p. 10. Frank WRIGHT ... won the runner-up prize in this year's Raymond Clapper Memorial Competition for distinguished Washington reporting.
^ abcRandolph, Eleanor (April 28, 1985). "Post Reporter David Hoffman Wins 2 Awards". The Washington Post. ...the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award to Mark J. Thompson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.... David Rogers of The Wall Street Journal ... also won a second place Clapper award.... Honorable mention for the Clapper award went to Fred Hiatt of The Washington Post....
^ ab"WOODWARD WINS JOURNALISM AWARD". The Washington Post. Apr 23, 1987. Bob Adams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch won first place in the Raymond Clapper Memorial Awards, with a prize of $2,000, for his coverage of U.S. policy in Central America. Thomas Moore and Michael York of Knight-Ridder Newspapers took second place, with a prize of $500, for a story on open-heart surgery.
^HYDE, JOHN (April 22, 1988). "Anthan wins Clapper Award for third time". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. p. 3. Anthan is the first to win the Clapper award three times.
^ abc"10 JOURNALISTS HONORED WITH REPORTING PRIZES". The Washington Post. May 10, 1992. The Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, worth $1,500, went to Bill Lambrecht of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a series on waste dumping on American Indian reservations. Tom Squitieri of USA Today won second place, worth $500, for a series on Haiti. Philip A. Kuntz of Congressional Quarterly received an honorable mention for articles on the finances of Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.).
^"Sarasota Herald-Tribune wins National Journalism Award biz reporting prize". TBN. March 12, 2010. Thomas Frank of USA Today receives $10,000 and the Raymond Clapper Award for Washington Reporting for "Under the Radar," an investigation of a little-known Federal Aviation Administration tax on airline passengers' tickets that revealed how billions of dollars in proceeds are used to fund the world's largest private aviation network.