The family of reporter and author Bernard Nossiter '47 has created an annual prize to recognize undergraduates for outstanding pieces of journalism.
The Bernard D. Nossiter Prize in Journalism will award $1,000 each April to one undergraduate "for an article on any substantive topic, approached from a reporter's perspective and addressed using journalistic techniques," according to a press release describing the prize.
"The prize recognizes those student journalists and journalistic scholars who master their subjects and demonstrate, in lucid prose, their independence and courage of thought," according the statement.
Nossiter, who was born in 1926 and died in 1992, spent the bulk of his career writing news stories for the Washington Post, where he served as national and European economics correspondent and bureau chief for South Asia and London. He also wrote five books and was the United Nations bureau chief for the New York Times.
His son, Jonathan Nossiter '84, created the award along with his mother and three brothers to honor Bernard Nossiter's work.
Nossiter said a five-member "prize jury" will select a winner from among the submissions received.
He said the jury's standards are very high, adding that a prize would not necessarily be awarded every year. "A prize will only be awarded in the years where the committee feels it is merited," he said.
The jury will be composed of Classics Professor Edward Bradley, History Professor Michael Ermarth, College Trustee and former New York Times correspondent David Shipler and journalist Anne Bagamery '78, who was The Dartmouth's first female editor in chief. The fifth position will rotate yearly among each of Bernard Nossiter's four sons.
College spokesman Alex Huppe said the awarding of the prize is likely to become a very significant event each year at Dartmouth. "There's no other prize like it on campus," he said.
The winning submission, "will demonstrate the independent spirit, objectivity and tough-minded pursuit of the facts that define the best reporting," according to the statement.
Any current Dartmouth undergraduate is eligible for the prize. Submissions can be published or unpublished, but must have been written while the author was a matriculated student at Dartmouth. An individual may make more than one submission each year.
The prize is not necessarily restricted to a piece of printed journalism, Nossiter said. Electronic and film-oriented works such as documentaries will also receive consideration, he said.
Nossiter said the new prize is an attempt to go beyond the generic award often given for "excellence in journalism." He said, "My father's work represented a very courageous and fiercely independent style of journalism that was combined with a great deal of rigor."
Shipler, who once worked with Bernard Nossiter in the Middle East, said the jury will be looking for pieces that reflect a lot of research and that present a large collection of facts arranged in an orderly fashion. "That's what Bud Nossiter was known for and that's the spirit we want to honor," Shipler said.
Nossiter said a major goal of the award is to encourage young journalists to "challenge the norm" while at the same time being responsible. He noted that his father's favorite phrase was "challenge conventional wisdom."
He said Dartmouth seems to be the appropriate place to establish the prize. "He was an unsentimental person," Nossiter said of his father, "but he was very sentimental about Dartmouth. His attachment was very strong."
Those who wish to make a submission or who wish to nominate a writer should contact the secretary for the Nossiter Prize at the Dartmouth News Service. The deadline for submissions for the 1995 award is Feb. 1.
