Long Island University Holds 70th Annual George Polk Awards Seminar And Luncheon To Honor Award-winning Journalists

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Mar 27, 2019, 12:07 ET

NEW YORK, March 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 70^th Annual George Polk Awards will be celebrated with two distinct events—the David J. Steinberg Seminar, "Honoring Reporters Who Seek to Right Wrongs," Thursday, April 4, at the Kumble Theater at LIU Brooklyn; and the 70^th Annual George Polk Awards Ceremony Luncheon, Friday, April 5, at The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.

The George Polk Awards (PRNewsfoto/Long Island University)

The April 4^th seminar at LIU Brooklyn's Kumble Theater will highlight the works of some of the Polk winners, including Madeleine Baran, winner of the Polk Award for a podcast that made a compelling case for the innocence of a Mississippi death-row inmate tried and convicted six times for the same crime in a case now before the U. S. Supreme Court; Julie K. Brown, winner of the Polk Award for Justice Reporting for exposing how a prosecutor arranged for a hedge fund manager who sexually abused under-age girls to avoid a federal prison in a deal now ruled illegal; and Ginger Thompson, winner, with others, of the Polk Award for Immigration Reporting for dramatic coverage of the separation of children and parents at the Mexican border, a policy the U.S. has since changed.

The seminar will be moderated by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, award-winning broadcast journalist, currently special correspondent for the PBS NewsHour series Race Matters: Solutions.

On Friday, April 5, at The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, Long Island University will host the 70^th Annual George Polk Awards Ceremony and Luncheon. Beginning at 11 a.m., journalists, guests and other luminaries from the Fourth Estate across all media will gather to celebrate the work of the winning reporters. Following a short reception, ticketed guests will enjoy lunch while hearing from the reporters themselves as the Polk panel of judges confer their awards.

History of the George Polk Awards
In 1949, Long Island University established a new journalism prize to memorialize George Polk, a CBS correspondent who was killed while covering the civil war in Greece. The mission of the George Polk Awards, as distinguished from other journalism honors, is focused on recognizing not the news organizations or the publishers, but on the investigative reporters themselves.

Much about journalism has changed in the six decades since the inaugural Polk Awards, including the rise of the Internet and the technological disruption it has caused. But one constant has endured and even thrived: intrepid, courageous reporters committed to doing whatever it takes—even at risk of their own life and liberty—to uncover matters of critical importance to an informed public and uphold the very foundation of a democratic society.

As the only major American journalism prize that has always honored work across all media platforms, the Polk Awards has consistently been at the forefront of the changing ways we access news and information. The list of Polk winners includes some of the biggest names in journalism. Seymour Hersh, Christiane Amanpour, Jimmy Breslin, Walter Cronkite, Thomas Friedman, Edward R. Murrow, Bill Moyers, A.M. Rosenthal, Jane Mayer, Sidney Schanberg, Pete Hamill, I. F. Stone, Studs Terkel, and the teams of Woodward and Bernstein and Barlett and Steele are all Polk laureates.

About Long Island University (LIU)
LIU, founded in 1926, is a nationally recognized teaching and research institution which continues to redefine higher education. Recognized by Forbes for its emphasis on experiential learning and by the Brookings Institution for its "value added" to student outcomes, as well as accolades and recognitions from US News and World Report, The Princeton Review, and Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education. LIU's network of 200,000 alumni includes industry leaders and entrepreneurs across the globe. LIU's renowned faculty, the LIU Promise student mentoring program, innovation in engaged learning, further distinguish LIU as a leader among the nation's most respected universities. Visit liu.edu for more information.

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David J. Steinberg Seminar, "Honoring Reporters Who Seek to Right Wrongs"
Featuring panelists and George Polk Award Winners Madeleine Baran of APM Reports, Julie K. Brown of The Miami Herald, and Ginger Thompson of ProPublica.
Moderated by Charlayne Hunter-Gault of PBS.

Thursday, April 4, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
The Kumble Theater at LIU Brooklyn
One University Plaza, Brooklyn NY 11201
Free and open to the public but registration required by emailing [email protected].
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70^th Annual George Polk Awards Ceremony Luncheon
Award citations read by Charlayne Hunter-Gault of PBS
Friday, April 5, 2019
The Roosevelt Hotel
45 E 45^th Street, New York, NY 10017