Nominees for the 2007 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism Announced
Winner to be Named at May 1 Event Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Bernstein Award
Free
Evening Event Includes Panel Discussion on Covering Foreign Conflicts
with Journalists Alex Jones, George Packer, and Dana Priest
April
10, 2007 -- The New York Public Library has announced the finalists for
The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence
in Journalism. The winning writer will be named at a Tuesday, May 1
event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the award. President Paul
LeClerc will present the honor, which includes a $15,000 cash prize,
and is given annually to a journalist whose work brings clarity and
public attention to important issues, events, or policies. In addition
to the award ceremony, the evening will include a panel discussion
among noted journalists titled Covering Foreign Conflict and the Military Over Twenty Tumultuous Years.
The finalists for the 2007 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism are:
• Rajiv Chandrasekaran , Assistant Managing Editor, The Washington Post
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Michelle Goldberg , Senior Writer, Salon
Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (W.W. Norton)
• Jed Horne , Metro Editor, The Times-Picayune
Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great
American City (Random House)
• Thomas E. Ricks , Senior Pentagon Correspondent, The Washington Post
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iran (The Penguin Press)
• Lawrence Wright , Writer, The New Yorker
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Alfred A. Knopf)
Past Bernstein Award winners have included Thomas Friedman, George Packer, Tina Rosenberg, David Remnick, and Nicholas Lemann.
Public Program
In celebration of the Bernstein Award's 20th anniversary, the panel
discussion Covering Foreign Conflict and the Military Over 20 Tumultuous
Years will be held May 1 at 7 p.m. in the South Court Auditorium at the
Humanities and Social Sciences Library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Alex
S. Jones, Director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and
Public Policy, will moderate the discussion. George Packer, last year's Bernstein
award winner for Assassin's Gate: America in Iraq and current New
Yorker writer, and Dana Priest, National Security writer for The Washington
Post and former Bernstein Award winner for The Mission: Waging War
and Keeping Peace with America's Military, will be panelists. The
public can register for this free program by e-mailing BernsteinAward@nypl.org
.
About the Selection Committee
The 2007 Selection Committee is being chaired by James F. Hoge, Jr., Editor of Foreign Affairs, Council on Foreign Relations. The other 2007 committee members are: Ellis Cose, Contributing Editor, Newsweek; Osborn Elliott, former Editor-in-Chief of Newsweek
and Founding Chairman of the Citizens Committee for New York City;
Harold W. McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO, The McGraw-Hill
Companies; George Packer, The New Yorker staff writer and 2006 Bernstein Award recipient for his book The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq; Jack Rosenthal, President, The New York Times Company Foundation; Elaine Sciolinio, Paris Bureau Chief; The New York Times , and 2001 Bernstein Award recipient for her book Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran ; and Alair Townsend, Publisher, Crain's New York Business.
About The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award
Established in 1987 as an annual award, The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein
Book Award for Excellence in Journalism honors an outstanding
journalist. The award was established with a gift from Joseph F.
Bernstein in honor of Helen Bernstein, a former journalist in Palm
Beach, Florida. The gift also included an endowment for the position of
the Helen Bernstein Chief Librarian for Periodicals and Journals in the
Humanities and Social Sciences Library. The chair is currently held by
Karen Gisonny, who oversees a collection of 11,500 current periodicals
in 24 languages. This collection is used by approximately 60,000
researchers annually and is an invaluable resource for writers,
artists, journalists, broadcasters, business people, and students.
Information about the award and the nomination process is available
online at www.nypl.org/pr/awardspage.cfm.
About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation
of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the
Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to
its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to
its services. It comprises four research centers – The Humanities and
Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing
Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the
Science, Industry and Business Library – and 86 Branch Libraries in
Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating
collections combined total more than 50 million items, including
materials for the visually impaired. In addition, each year the Library
presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include
classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The
New York Public Library serves over 15 million patrons who come through
its doors annually and another 21 million users internationally, who
access collections and services through the NYPL website, www.nypl.org.
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Contact: Gayle Snible at 212.592.7700 or gsnible@nypl.org
gs:04.10.07:nypl024
