Two documentary films were among the 14 winners of the 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, making them the first theatrical releases to be honored with the prize. USA Today also won its first duPont award.
"Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," Alison Klayman's profile of the Chinese artist-activist, and Emmy-winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch's tale of schoolyard torment, "Bully," won alongside reporting from Current TV, CBS News, NPR, PBS's "Frontline" and USA Today.
USA Today was honored for multimedia reporting on abandoned lead factories, and NPR's "StoryCorps" will win its first silver baton.
Five awards will go to local television and radio stations: KCET in Southern California, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, WVUE-TV in New Orleans, Detroit's WXYZ-TV and partnerships with WHYY and NPR.
"This exceptional group of journalists represents the best of broadcast, documentary and digital news reporting today," Bill Wheatley, the outgoing duPont Jury chair and the former executive vice president of NBC News, said in a statement. "These groundbreaking stories set the standard for excellent reporting; journalists gained access and insight into critical issues in the public interest, and they are telling these important stories in new ways."
Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent and a gobal affairs anchor for ABC News will present the awrads with CBS News's Byron Pitts on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 at Columbia's Low Memorial Library.
2013 duPont-Columbia University Awards Announcement from Alfred I. duPont Awards on Vimeo.
