1975 Floyd Adams, Sr. (Deceased, publisher, The Herald newspaper, Savannah , Georgia)

1976 Wilton C. Scott (Deceased), founder, Southern Regional Press Institute of Savannah State College

1977 Kalamuya Salaam, editor and founder of Black Collegian magazine

1978 Donzella Hendrix, correspondent, Mutual Black Network News

1979 Lee May, Associate Editor, Atlanta Constitution

1980 Harold S. Gulliver, Editor, Atlanta Constitution

1981 Lee Thornton, National Correspondent, CBS News

1982 Lerone Bennett, Senior Editor, Ebony Magazine

1983 Les Payne, National Editor, Newsday

1984 Jacqueline Trescott, Style Editor, Washington Post

1985 Alexander Nelson Stoddart, Former Publisher, Essex County Newspapers

1986 Linda Harris, WJZ-TV, Baltimore, Maryland

1987 Thomas Winship, President, The Center for Foreign Journalists

1988 Ernest Morial, Former Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana

1989 Barbara Reynolds, Editor, Inquiry Page, USA Today

1990 Dorothy Aranda, CEO, WLOW-FM, Hilton Head, S.C.

1991 Eason Jordan, Vice President, International Managing Editor, Cable News Network

1992 Vaughnette Goode, Writer, ABC News-Radio

1993 Attorney Richard B. Quinn, Legal Director, The Freedom Forum

1994 Tony Brown, Host, Executive Producer, Tony Brown's Journal

1995 Wanda S. Lloyd, Senior Editor, USA Today

1996 George Curry, Editor, Emerge Magazine

1997 Jay Walljasper, Editor-at-Large, Utne Reader

1998 Barbara A. Reynolds, President, Reynolds News Service

1999 Milton Coleman, Deputy Managing Editor, The Washington Post

2000 Alexis Scott, publisher, The Atlanta Daily World

2001 Yvonne Lamb, Director of Training, The Washington Post

2002 Esther Silver-Parker, President, AT&T Foundation, Vice President, Corporate External Affairs

2003 Keith Wheeler, Associate Managing Editor, Broadcast and Online, The Orlando Sentinel Communications Co.

2004 Karen Brown Dunlap, President, The Poynter Institute

2005 Bryan Monroe, Assistant Vice President/News, Knight Ridder