FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2020
PRESS CONTACT: Dillon Lewis
press@nlgja.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists announced that Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart is the recipient of the Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ Coverage. Capehart will accept the Randy Shilts Award at the Headlines & Headliners New York benefit event on April 24.
“Randy Shilts was a giant in our profession and in our community,” said Capehart. “To receive an award named after him is an honor that comes with responsibility. I will always strive to live up to the ideals the Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ Coverage represents.”
The Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ Coverage honors journalists who consistently bring stories of the LGBTQ community to life in mainstream media outlets. Past honorees include HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Lydia Polgreen, NPR “Weekend Edition” host Scott Simon and The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni.
“For decades, Jonathan Capehart has championed the intersections of identities as LGBTQ people and offered insight into the unique triumphs and struggles that we face,” said NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists President Sharif Durhams. “He is an obvious choice for the Randy Shilts Award, and we congratulate and thank him for his work.”
Capehart is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He is an opinion writer for and a member of The Washington Post editorial board. He also hosts the “Cape Up” podcast at the paper and is an MSNBC contributor, who regularly serves as a substitute anchor, and was the host of “America on the Line,” a 10-week daily news and national call-in show about the 2018 midterm elections from WNYC New York Public Radio. He was a Spring 2019 Fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Policy.
In September 2014, the Advocate magazine ranked Capehart 9th out of 50 of the most influential LGBTQ people in media. In December 2014, Mediaite named him one of the “Top 9 Rising Stars of Cable News.” Equality Forum made him a 2018 LGBTQ History Month Icon in October. Capehart has twice made the OUT 100 list, first in 1999 and again in 2000. In May 2018, the publisher of the Washington Post awarded him an “Outstanding Contribution Award” for his opinion writing and “Cape Up” podcast interviews.
Capehart was deputy editorial page editor of the New York Daily News from 2002 to 2004, and served on that paper’s editorial board from 1993 to 2000. In 1999, his 16-month editorial campaign to save the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem earned him and the board the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing. Capehart left the Daily News in July 2000 to become the national affairs columnist at Bloomberg News, and took a leave from this position in February 2001 to serve as a policy adviser to Michael Bloomberg in his first successful campaign for New York City mayor.
Capehart will accept the Randy Shilts Award at the Headlines & Headliners New York benefit event on April 24. Headlines & Headliners is a star-studded event that raises tens of thousands of dollars for the organization’s programs, including those that provide scholarships to aspiring LGBTQ journalists. Headlines & Headliners draws hundreds of influential journalists, news executives, dignitaries and allies to what has become one of New York City’s must-attend media events. Tickets are available online now.
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About NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists is a journalist-led association working within the news media to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ communities and issues. We promote diverse and inclusive workplaces by holding the industry accountable and providing education, professional development and mentoring. For more information, visit www.nlgja.org.