FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024
PRESS CONTACT: Kenrick Thomas info@wabjdc.org
Washington, D.C. – The Washington Association of Black Journalists (WABJ) is excited to announce that Cheryl W. Thompson, an investigative correspondent and senior editor for member stations at NPR, will receive the 2024 WABJ Legacy Award. This award recognizes a current or retired journalist or journalism educator in the Washington, D.C. area who has broken barriers and/or provided distinguished leadership in increasing access and opportunities to people of color in journalism.
Thompson will be honored at the 3rd annual WABJ Special Honors & Scholarship Gala on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Blackburn University Center, Howard University. Early-bird tickets are now available for purchase here.
Thompson’s body of work expands nearly three decades, and exemplifies the importance of investigative journalism as a mechanism to reveal truth and hold those in power to account. A multi award-winning journalist (Pulitzer Prize, an Emmy Award, and numerous NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards), she’s worked in the nation’s most respected newsrooms as a reporter and editor.
Her highly regarded coordinated projects, which include, “Hot Days: Heat’s Mounting Death Toll on Workers in the U.S.,” an investigation into how Black and brown workers in the U.S. were dying on the job for lack of water and shade breaks, as well as extensive reporting on law enforcement, policing, guns and corruption make Thompson a leader in the field of investigative journalism.
“As the first elected Black president of the Investigative Reporters and Editors organization, and as an associate professor of investigative reporting at George Washington University, where she founded and also advises an NABJ student chapter, Cheryl has forged an exemplary pathmaking career rooted in strengthening the next generation qualifying her as a worthy recipient of WABJ’s Legacy Award,” the WABJ Awards Review Committee said.
“Throughout her career, Cheryl has championed efforts to foster a more inclusive and equitable media landscape and created opportunities for young journalists to grow,” the committee said.
Thompson is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2017, she received the NABJ Educator of the Year Award. She’s also a founding and current board member of the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, which focuses on cross-border investigations.
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Founded in 1975, the Washington Association of Black Journalists is an organization of more than 300 Black journalists, educators, public relations professionals and student journalists in the Washington, D.C., metro area. WABJ provides members with ongoing professional development opportunities and advocates for newsroom diversity, equity and inclusion. WABJ was named 2023 Professional Chapter of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists. For more information, please visit www.wabjdc.org.
