Lisa Desjardins Named Recipient of the NPF Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress

Arlington, VA (November 3, 2021) — The National Press Foundation (NPF) today announced that PBS NewsHour’s Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins has been awarded the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress for her reporting during and after the January 6th Capitol insurrection. NPF describes the award as “intended to recognize U.S.-based journalists whose work shows thoughtful appraisal and insight into the workings of the U.S. Congress and that represents the highest standards of journalism.”

On January 6th, Desjardins was the only journalist outside of lockdown reporting live on television from the halls of the Capitol, during which she relayed the news as insurrectionists streamed into the building and interviewed one of them live during NewsHour’s special on PBS (Video Link 1 and Video Link 2). Lisa sat down with Officer James Blassingame, a 17-year veteran of the Capitol Police who filed a civil lawsuit against former President Trump, as he gave his firsthand account of the events of January 6th in his first interview since the attack (Full interview).

Her reporting of January 6th extended well beyond NewsHour’s special broadcast that day, including as a video podcast anchored by Judy Woodruff and alongside her fellow NewsHour correspondents, Amna Nawaz and Yamiche Alcindor, who that day were outside the Capitol where the mob was gathering and at the White House, respectively. Desjardins is a veteran congressional reporter, having covered Capitol Hill for the past 16 years, and for NewsHour since 2014.

“Ten months after the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, Lisa’s courageous reporting continues to help us understand one of the darkest moments we’ve witnessed in the nation’s capital in modern history. I and all of us at NewsHour know what a fierce, hard-working and compassionate journalist Lisa is and this high recognition of her by the National Press Foundation is most deserved,” said NewsHour’s executive producer Sara Just.

The Everett McKinley Dirksen award, as well as the other NPF awards, will be presented at the NPF’s annual awards event on February 9, 2022.

Press Contact: Ella Richardson, erichardson (at) newshour (dot) org