Celebrating journalism and democracy in style

Details

EVENT DATE: Nov. 16, 2024

LOCATION: Hilton Tampa Downtown, 211 N. Tampa St., Tampa, FL 33602

TIME:
VIP Reception: 5:30 p.m. Eastern
General Admission Reception: 6 p.m. Eastern
Dinner and Program: 7-9:30 p.m. Eastern

TICKETS:

VIP Ticket
VIP guests will enjoy exclusive access to a pre-event cocktail reception featuring a special conversation with our 2024 guest of honor. Doors open for VIP guests at 5:30 p.m. to enjoy a premium open bar and hors d’oeuvres. The Bowtie Ball featured presentation starts at 7 p.m. and includes a three-course gourmet dinner, an open bar, and entertainment.

General Admission Ticket
General Admission guests will enjoy total access to the Bowtie Ball including an impactful program of journalistic achievements, surprise cameos, and a conversation with the 2024 guest of honor. Doors open at 6 p.m. to enjoy the reception with music and an open premium bar.  The Bowtie Ball featured presentation starts at 7 p.m. with a three-course gourmet dinner, an open bar, and entertainment.

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TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE SOON! If you’d like to be informed when tickets go on sale, please click here to provide your contact information.

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About the Bowtie Ball

The Poynter Institute’s annual Bowtie Ball showcases the most accomplished, dazzling and lively personalities in journalism as we gather in Tampa Bay for one electric celebration. It’s our way of saying thank you. Your generosity fortifies journalism’s role in a free society. Poynter champions freedom of expression, civil dialogue, and compelling journalism where citizens can participate in healthy societies.

Since the Bowtie Ball debuted in 2015, Poynter has welcomed thousands of guests who support the free press to don their favorite formal attire — Bow Ties encouraged — for dinner, dancing, and toasts with Pulitzer Prize winners, best-selling authors, and media personalities from the nation’s most beloved and revered newsrooms. 

Our guests enjoy an immersive experience and access to internationally acclaimed journalists. They leave with insight into the powerful behind-the-scenes stories about the events that have shaped our world.

The real party will start in the grand ballroom with a gourmet, three-course dinner, complete with a premium open bar. Every seat is the best in the house when you’re surrounded by local and national journalists and emerging media voices. 

Our event culminates with an insightful on-stage interview with one of the nation’s most revered and respected journalists, who will be honored with the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism. Previous recipients include Anderson Cooper, Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, Lesley Stahl, Chris Wallace, Katie Couric, Lester Holt, Judy Woodruff, Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer. The 11th recipient of the Poynter Medal will be announced in the coming months.

Proceeds from this dynamic event will power Poynter’s mission to improve, strengthen, and sustain quality journalism in newsrooms worldwide.

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Learn more about the history and impact of Poynter’s Bowtie Ball.

 

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About the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism

 

Each year, Poynter presents its medal to an accomplished journalist whose contributions to the news media have inspired and informed people around the world.

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 — who founded what was then called the Modern Media Institute for the professional development of journalists nearly 50 years ago. Upon his death, in an exceptional act of vision and philanthropy, Mr. Poynter bequeathed ownership of the newspaper to the school to ensure the independence of his beloved local paper.

Today, the Poynter Institute, a world-renowned nonprofit for journalistic excellence; named in honor of its founder after his death, still owns the Times. Poynter trains tens of thousands of journalists, newsrooms, educators, and students around the globe in person and online each year. Clients include CBS, NBC, Univision, ESPN, NPR, Gannett, McClatchy, and TEGNA newsrooms, and numerous local TV stations, community newspapers, and digital news sites. 

Poynter also operates three fact-checking enterprises: the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), and the social-first digital media literacy initiative MediaWise. In addition, Poynter is the home of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, a resource for journalists and citizens to navigate today’s complex media landscape.

Get involved with the 2024 Bowtie Ball

If you’d like to sponsor the Bowtie Ball, please contact Deborah Read, chief development officer, at sponsorships@poynter.org or  727-371-0731  for more information. If you’d like to make an immediate impact, please click here.  All contributions at all levels support Poynter’s mission to strengthen journalism in service to democracies throughout the globe.

Questions?

We’d love to hear from you. Please send your inquiries to marketing@poynter.org.

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TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE SOON! If you’d like to be informed when tickets go on sales, please click here to provide your contact information.

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Unable to join us but want to support journalism? Please make a donation in lieu of attendance today at poynter.org/give.