John Wilson '07, who graduated from CMC in May, has won the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Journalism (collegiate category) for Finding Burke among the Street Sleepers, an article spotlighting homelessness in London.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., along with Lally Weymouth, senior editor of Newsweek, and Roger Ailes, chairman of the Fox News Channel, attended the ninth annual award ceremony, held June 6 at the New York Historical Society.
The awards, named for the late New York Post editorial page editor, are presented by the Eric Breindel Memorial Foundation and endowed by News Corp., the Post's parent company. The annual awards honor the work of a columnist, editorial writer, or other scribe whose work best reflects Breindel's own patriotic spirit and democratic ideas.
Wilson says he wrote Finding Burke after observing homelessness in London last summer. "Specifically," he recalls, "the article was inspired by a day I spent with a homeless man who brought me along to all of the stops on his daily routine."
The story appeared in the September 2006 issue of the Claremont Independent, a newspaper produced by students of The Claremont Colleges. (Read Wilson's story)
Wilson says he submitted the article, as well as another that wasn't recognized, in late April for consideration. In May, following on the heels of commencement, Breindel was notified he had won the award one that carries a $10,000 cash prize and an internship this summer at the New York Post.
Wilson will work on the newspaper's editorial page, and says he hopes to continue in journalism once the internship is completed.
The Breindel Award for professional journalism went to Max Boot, a veteran foreign affairs columnist, Weekly Standard contributor, and senior fellow of national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Wilson says it was an honor to share the podium with Boot. "All of my friends love Max," he says. "Meeting Mayor Bloomberg was great, too. There was lots of joking about his possible presidential run.
"Rupert Murdoch was there, as was a motley collection of notable journalists and pundits, and friends of Eric Breindel.
"Breindel's mother was there as well," Wilson says, "and there was a video in his memory."