2018
Judy Woodruff, the 2018 IQLA Laureate, is the anchor and managing editor of the “PBS NewsHour.” An award-winning journalist and trailblazer for women in broadcast news, Woodruff began her career in 1970 as a reporter for CBS-affiliate WAGA-TV in Atlanta.
Woodruff joined NBC News in 1975 and became known as one of the original “boys on the bus,” covering Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign for NBC. The national exposure she gained for her insightful reporting led to her being named NBC White House correspondent in 1977, a position she held until 1982 when she moved to the Today Show to become its Washington correspondent. The next year, she joined the newly-formed “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” on PBS as its chief Washington correspondent, and took on the additional role as host of “Frontline” on PBS. In 1993, Woodruff joined CNN as a senior correspondent and anchor of the weekday program “Inside Politics,” a position she held for 12 years, before leaving the world of broadcast journalism in 2005 to teach, write and produce documentaries. During her sabbatical from the daily anchor desk, Woodruff served as a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy and a visiting professor at Duke University’s Terry Sanford School of Public Policy. She also joined Bloomberg Television to host a monthly program, “Conversations with Judy Woodruff.”
Woodruff has received wide acclaim for her extensive work on the documentary “Generation Next: Speak Up. Be Heard,” a multi-platform project in partnership with PBS, NPR, Yahoo! and “USA Today,” which examined the characteristics, values and unique perspectives of the millennial generation. She is also noted for her contributions to the PBS documentary, “Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime.”
In 2013, a milestone in broadcast journalism for women was achieved when Woodruff and Gwen Ifill were named co-anchors and managing editors of the “PBS NewsHour.” The two remained broadcast partners and close friends until Ifill’s untimely death in 2016, after which Woodruff assumed the role of solo anchor and managing editor.
A trailblazer for women, she is a founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation which is dedicated to promoting and celebrating women in communications throughout the world. Woodruff serves on the boards of the Freedom Forum, The Duke Endowment, Public Radio International and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, in addition to being a trustee emerita of Duke University, her alma mater, and of the Urban Institute.
Woodruff is the author of “This Is Judy Woodruff at the White House.” Among her many honors, she is the recipient of the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism/Television, the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Gaylord Prize for Excellence in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Oklahoma, the Al Neuharth/University of South Dakota Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Radcliffe Medal and a Duke University Distinguished Alumni Award.
IQLA Prior Laureates
