WASHINGTON – Josh Lederman of The Associated Press and Jim Avila of ABC News have won the Merriman Smith Award for presidential coverage under deadline pressure.
Lederman won in the print category for his breaking stories about a fence jumper who made it inside the White House before being apprehended. Avila won in the broadcast category for his reporting on the release of U.S. contractor Alan Gross after five years of captivity in Cuba and the thaw in relations between Washington and Havana.
Peter Baker of The New York Times won the Aldo Beckman Award for repeated excellence in White House coverage.
The Edgar A. Poe Award, recognizing coverage of news of national or regional significance, was shared by The Washington Post's Carol A. Leonnig and The Wall Street Journal team of Gary Fields, John R. Emshwiller, Rob Barry and Coulter Jones.
The awards were announced Tuesday by the White House Correspondents' Association and will be presented at its annual dinner April 25 in Washington.
Scott Horsley of National Public Radio received a special mention in the Beckman Award category for his coverage of White House policies and politics.
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