AWARD DATE: 1966
AWARD NAME: Best Magazine Interpretation of Foreign Affairs
AWARD RECIPIENT: Eric Sevareid
AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: Look Magazine/CBS News
AWARD HONORED WORK: Why Our Foreign Policy Is Failing
Eric Sevareid’s Look article, “Why Our Foreign Policy is Failing,” was selected for its “illuminating insight.”
The article, based on an exclusive interview with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Fulbright, was widely quoted. It proves, in the opinion of the judges, “that not only the ‘instant communications’ media can provide timely commentary on events of the hour.”
Veteran commentator Sevareid, national correspondent for CBS news, has been with the network since 1939.
In the first of numerous foreign assignments for CBS, Sevareid scored what has been called a “gigantic scoop,” as the first newsmen to report that France was about to capitulate to Germany. After
the fall of France, he went to London, continuing to broadcast from there until October, 1940, when he was assigned to Washington.
In May, 1965, he once again turned war correspondent, reporting from Santo Domingo. That summer he went to London, where he had a lengthy conversation with Adlai Stevenson two days before the
latter’s death.
An article based on the conversation, “The Final Troubled Hours of Adlai Stevenson, “appeared in Look. The New York Newspaper Guild gave Sevareid its Page One award, citing the articles “excellent writing” and “its terrific impact on United States and the world.”
Sevareid has captured many journalistic awards in his career. In 1950 and 1964, he received the George Foster Peabody award for his interpretation of the news. He has also received, among other honors, an Overseas Press Club award; the George Polk Memorial Award; the National Headlines Award.