DeWitt Carter Reddick was the first dean of the College of Communication. He also was director of the School of Journalism from 1959 to 1965, teaching thousands of journalism students, including Walter Cronkite, Lady Bird Johnson, Ben Sargent and Karen Elliott House, from 1927 until his retirement in 1975.
Established in 1974, the DeWitt Carter Reddick Award recognizes excellence in the field of communication.
Past Award Winners
2022
Spoon
Iconic Austin band; Britt Daniel (BS '93, Radio-Television-Film), Jim Eno, Alex Fischel, Benjamin Trokan, Gerardo Larios.
2021
Don Mischer
American producer and director of television and live events, and president of Don Mischer Productions.
2020
Willow Bay
Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, veteran broadcast journalist and a leader in digital communication.
2019
Alberto Ibargüen
President of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The foundation promotes informed and engaged communities, focusing its work on journalism and media innovation, arts and community engagement toward a more effective democracy.
2018
Gay Gaddis
A groundbreaking advertising executive, Gay Gaddis founded T3 in Austin nearly 30 years ago, and today it ranks among the best advertising agencies in the country.
2017
Arthel H. Neville
Weekend anchor on the Fox News Channel covering breaking news, international headlines, politics, and interviewing newsmakers.
2016
Evan Smith
Co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, Smith has also served as editor, president, and editor-in-chief at Texas Monthly.
2015
Susan King
In addition to her extensive career in television broadcasting, working for the federal government and serving the Carnegie Corporation, King has been dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2014
Dan Rather
Former CBS anchor Dan Rather has had an award-winning career in TV broadcasting, where he has championed first amendment freedoms, confronted the forces of power and demonstrated a passion for enlightened journalism.
2013
Kathleen Jamieson
Now a professor of communication at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Jamieson is a former chair of the college's Department of Communication Studies.
2012
Howard Schneider
Schneider, founding dean of Stony Brook University's School of Journalism, worked as a reporter and editor at Newsday for more than 35 years.
2011
Alex Jones
The director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for special reporting while covering the press for The New York Times.
2010
Tom Rosenstiel
The founder and director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism worked as a journalist and media critic for more than 30 years.
2009
R. B. Brenner
Brenner was one of the supervising editors at The Washington Post responsible for covering the Virginia Tech shooting, for which the paper won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.
2008
Eric Newton
After working as a journalist and launching the Pacific Coast Center of the Freedom Forum, Newton became the founding managing editor for the original Newseum and subsequently joined the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
2007
Donna Krache
A former middle and high school social studies teacher, Krache now serves as an executive producer for CNN Student News.
2006
Nicholas Lemann
The author of several books on recent U.S. history, he serves as dean and the Henry R. Luce Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
2005
Cappy McGarr
McGarr, B.J. '75, president of MCM Interests and managing partner of U.S. Renewal Energy Group, served on the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he was an executive producer and creator of the Mark Twain Prize.
2001
Milt Gossett
He oversaw the merger of Compton Advertising and Saatchi & Saatchi, ultimately becoming chairman and CEO of the company.
2000
Bill Wittliff
Wittliff, B.J. '63, is an author, photographer and award-winning screenwriter of "The Perfect Storm," "Barbarosa," and other films.
1999
William Raspberry
Raspberry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post, also taught communications and journalism at Duke University.
1998
Jack R. Crosby
Distinguished Alumnus Crosby, B.B.A. '49, started one of the first cable television companies, worked as an executive in the film industry and formed Rust Capital Ventures.
1997
Linda Ellerbee
A native Texan, Ellerbee has worked as a network news correspondent, anchor, writer and producer.
1996
Stan Richards
Founder and owner of The Richards Group, he developed highly successful advertising campaigns including those for Motel 6 featuring Tom Bodett and Chick-Fil-A.
1995
Molly Ivins
A legend of Texas journalism, the reporter and political columnist worked for papers including The Texas Observer and The New York times and developed her own brand of folksy populism.
1994
Frank Bennack
While president and CEO of the Hearst Corporation, Bennack oversaw an unprecedented period of growth and launched three cable networks with ABC: A&E, the History Channel and Lifetime.
1993
Ed Ney
Ney spent the bulk of his career at Young & Rubicam Inc., one of the world’s largest advertising communications companies, working his way up from account manager to ultimately become its CEO.
1992
Al Neuharth
He founded and served as senior advisory chairman of the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.
1991
Tom Johnson
A journalist and media executive who early in his career worked for President Lyndon Johnson and later presided over CNN during the 1990s.
1991
George Stevens Jr.
Stevens is an award-winning film and television writer, director, producer, and founder of the American Film Institute.
1989
Ted Turner
The media pioneer, entrepreneur and philanthropist launched TBS Superstation, originating the “Superstation” concept, and founded CNN, the first 24-hour news channel.
1988
Sylvia Chase
Chase is an investigative reporter and anchorwoman who has won an Emmy and a Peabody for her work.
1987
Sid Sheinberg
The former president and chief operating officer of Universal Pictures, he briefly attended UT's School of Law, discovered Steven Spielberg and went on to start "The Bubble Factory."
1986
Joan Ganz Cooney
One of the first women executives in television, Cooney oversaw the creation of the Children's Television Workshop and the program that became "Sesame Street."
1985
Robert Maynard
As the first black publisher of a major metropolitan newspaper, he purchased and transformed a failing Oakland Tribune into a Pulitzer Prize-winning paper.
1984
Helen Thomas
The "First Lady of the Press" actively reported for nearly three decades and was the only reporter to have her own seat in the White House Briefing Room while she worked as part of the White House Press Corps.
1983
Joe M. Dealey
Dealey, B.A. '41, started his career at The Dallas Morning News and eventually became the chairman of the board for the A. H. Belo Company.
1982
Otis Chandler
As the publisher of L.A. Times from 1960-1980, he dramatically increased the paper's budget, enabling it to expand coverage and improve in quality.
1981
William S. Paley
As chief executive of CBS, he transformed a small radio company into the national radio and television network.
1980
Fred W. Friendly
The pioneer broadcast journalist and CBS News president helped conceptualize public broadcasting and was a key player in establishing PBS.
1979
Don Carter
Carter had a distinguished career as a reporter, editor and newspaper executive that included being a founding managing editor of The National Observer.
1978
Robert Keeshan
The children's television pioneer was the first Clarabell the Clown on "Howdy Doody" and later developed and played the title character on "Captain Kangaroo" for 30 years.
1977
Nicholas Johnson
Johnson, B.A. '56, LL.B. '58, has held three presidential appointments including one as commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission during Lyndon B. Johnson's administration.
1976
Wilbur Schramm
Known as the "father of communication studies," Schramm authored the book "Mass Media and National Development," the first work to examine the spread of communication technology and socioeconomic development.
1975
Bill Moyers
A journalist and public commentator, Moyers attended the university in the mid '50s and worked for Lyndon B. Johnson for many years including serving as the White House press secretary.
1974
Walter Cronkite
The respected broadcast journalist who became an American icon while serving as the anchorman for CBS News worked on The Daily Texan while attending the university in the early '30s.