ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (June 27, 2023) – The Poynter Institute is pleased to announce that Anderson Cooper will be honored with the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism at the 2023 Bowtie Ball.
Cooper is one of the most influential, trusted and dynamic broadcast journalists working today. He anchors CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°,” which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and hosts a new Sunday show on CNN, “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.” Last year, he launched a podcast with CNN about grief, called “All There Is.” Cooper is also a regular correspondent for “60 Minutes” on CBS.
“Anderson Cooper’s fearless reporting, whether from war zones or the political arena, has earned him a reputation as one of the most respected journalists of our time,” said Poynter President Neil Brown. “His humanity, humility and humor make him the rare journalist who can connect with millions of people around the world on a deeply personal level and earn their trust. We at Poynter are honored to celebrate his achievements.”
Cooper will receive the medal at Poynter’s annual fundraising gala, the Bowtie Ball, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, at the J.W. Marriott Water Street in Tampa, Florida. Guests will experience a unique celebration of the free press and leave with insight into powerful behind-the-scenes stories about the events that have shaped our world. Cooper will attend the event in person, including a VIP cocktail reception and on-stage interview.
When Cooper was just 23 years old, he got someone to make him a press pass, snuck into Myanmar and self-produced stories about students fighting the government. Since then, he has worked in more than 40 countries. His coverage of seemingly every major event over the past three decades — hurricanes and earthquakes, gun violence and wars, and the effects of climate change — has helped shape the conversation about politics and culture for millions.
Cooper has been pivotal in CNN’s political and election coverage, from anchoring conventions to moderating several presidential primary debates and town halls. In 2016, Cooper was selected by the Committee on Presidential Debates to co-moderate one of the three debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
At CNN and “60 Minutes,” Cooper has won numerous major journalism awards. He helped lead CNN’s Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and duPont Award-winning coverage of the 2004 tsunami. He has received 20 Emmy Awards, including two for his coverage of the earthquake in Haiti, an Edward R. Murrow Award and several GLAAD Media Awards.
Cooper’s three books — “Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty,” “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss” and “Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of Wars, Disaster, and Survival” — all topped The New York Times Best Seller list. A fourth book, “Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune,” will be published in September.
“Cooper’s career exemplifies how a modern broadcast journalist can report some of the most important stories of our day while making a strong connection with audiences, even during a polarized era,” Brown said.
Each year, Poynter presents the lifetime achievement award to an accomplished journalist whose career has made a significant impact on democracy and its institutions. Cooper will join an esteemed roster of Poynter Medal recipients including:
- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, legendary investigative reporters who broke the Watergate story
- Lesley Stahl, CBS News and “60 Minutes” correspondent
- Chris Wallace, broadcast journalist, best-selling author and former Fox News anchor
- Katie Couric, broadcast journalist, best-selling author and media entrepreneur
- Lester Holt, anchor of “NBC Nightly News” and “Dateline NBC”
- Judy Woodruff, former anchor and managing editor of “PBS NewsHour”
- Tom Brokaw, former anchor of “NBC Nightly News”
- Bob Schieffer, former CBS News anchor and host of “Face the Nation”
The medal was created to celebrate journalism and the legacy of Nelson Poynter, the former owner and editor of the St. Petersburg Times — now the Tampa Bay Times. Nearly 50 years ago, Mr. Poynter founded what was then called the Modern Media Institute for the professional development of journalists. In an exceptional act of vision and philanthropy, Mr. Poynter bequeathed ownership of the newspaper to the school to ensure the independence of the local paper and to uphold the practice of quality journalism for generations.
Sponsorships for the 2023 Bowtie Ball honoring Anderson Cooper are on sale now, and interested organizations and individuals can inquire here. Poynter donors can purchase pre-sale tickets starting Sept. 5. Public tickets will be available beginning Sept. 11. Sign up to get updates on ticket sales. This event sells out.
About Poynter:
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is a gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the information ecosystem.
The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all enterprises of the Poynter organization.
Support for Poynter upholds the integrity of the free press and the U.S. First Amendment and builds public confidence in journalism and media around the world — an essential for healthy democracies. Learn more at poynter.org.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Orsi
The Poynter Institute
jorsi@poynter.org
