The Washington Association of Black Journalists (WABJ) announced that Kristen Welker, the new moderator of the NBC Sunday morning public affairs show “Meet the Press,” is the recipient of the WABJ Journalist of the Year. The award will be presented to her at the WABJ Special Honors & Scholarship Gala on Dec. 2 at Armour J. Blackburn University Center on the campus of Howard University.
This award recognizes a Black Washington area journalist for their groundbreaking accomplishments and distinguished body of work produced over the past year with extraordinary depth and significance. Welker previously served as NBC News chief White House correspondent and co-anchor of “Saturday Today.”
The Emmy-winning journalist is the first Black woman — and the second woman after the show’s creator Martha Roundtree — to sit full-time in the moderator seat of the Sunday morning news show. Her ascension to the role makes her the 13th moderator of “Meet the Press.” She has also reported on NBC News and MSNBC platforms such as NBCNews.com, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Today.”
“WABJ is delighted to recognize and celebrate Kristen Welker’s stellar career accomplishments and contributions to our industry with this worthy award,” said WABJ President Khorri Atkinson. “Her grit and poise when reporting some of the country’s biggest stories and holding those in authority accountable is commendable and it empowers other journalists to do the same.”
Other honorees include Erica Loewe, White House chief of staff for Public Engagement at the White House as the WABJ Excellence in Communications Award; Pat Lawson Muse, former NBC Channel 4 newscaster, will be honored with the WABJ Lifetime Achievement Award; Sonya Ross, the managing editor of Inside Climate News, will get the 2023 WABJ Legacy Award; and Phil Lewis, HuffPost senior front page editor, will receive the 2023 WABJ Young Journalist of Excellence Award.
The awards gala is a fundraiser to support WABJ scholarships, year-round professional development programming, and the organization’s long-running Urban Journalism Workshop for Washington, D.C.-area high school students, which is now in its 37th year.
For more information, go to wabjdc.org.