Previous Hosokawa Lectures and Award Winners
History of The Robert R. Hosokawa Endowment:
In 2000, an endowed lectureship was established at Whitman College by David and Beverly Hosokawa, and the Hosokawa Family Foundation. Intended to be a celebration of journalistic excellence, the lectureship honors Robert R. Hosokawa, David’s father, by bringing a noted journalist to campus. The endowment also established the Hosokawa Prize to be awarded each year in recognition of outstanding achievement and excellence as demonstrated by student journalists and photojournalists of Whitman Wire.
Robert Hosokawa graduated from ³Ô¹ÏÍø in 1940 with honors in English. He was considering law school when he and other Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps at the start of World War II. Robert and his wife were allowed to leave their internment camp in Idaho only after one of his former Whitman professors helped find him a job at a newspaper in Independence, Missouri. An Alumnus of Merit, Robert Hosokawa went on to become a reporter for several papers in New York, Iowa and Minnesota. He held journalism professorships at the University of Missouri and the University of Central Florida and was a mentor to many young journalists.
2026 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture
The 2026 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture took place on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom. The guest speaker was Preston Gannaway, an independent documentary photographer and artist best known for her long-term project “Remember Me,” which earned the 2008 . This ongoing project, now in its 20th year, follows the life of a boy named EJ after the death of his mother and explores themes of memory, loss, masculinity and mortality.
Based in Northern California and originally from North Carolina, Gannaway centers her work on the relationships between the individual, community and landscape. During the lecture, she shared images from “Remember Me” and discussed the deep, long-term relationships that evolve through photography and community journalism.
Hosokawa Journalism Awards
The Hosokawa Journalism Awards for calendar year 2025 went to:
- Garrett Schreiber ’26, — “” (Sports)
- Meghan Kearney ’26 — “” (Humor)
- Payton Davies ’26 — “” (Illustration)
- Atziri Fernandez ’27 — “” (Photography)
- Jesse Grubb ’28 — “” (Feature)
- Danny Pottharst ’28 — “” (News)
- Stephan Hermann ’29 — “” (Opinion)
2025 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture
The 2025 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture took place on Tuesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom. Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma presented on “The 21st Century Newsroom: What Even is News When Everything is Online?" and engaged in conversation with the Whitman Wire's Editor-in-Chief Nazaaha Pennick.
At , Sharma leads a team of editors, reporters, social media managers, video producers and more in covering all things fashion, politics, culture and identity for young audiences. Since joining in May 2021, she has won several leadership awards and a National Magazine Readers' Choice Award for Best News & Politics Cover.
While previously working as the managing editor and senior correspondent at , she interviewed high-profile figures such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and covered global issues with a digital- and social-first mindset. She and her team received an Edward R. Murrow Award for their documentary work on Hurricane Maria’s effects on Puerto Rico, with Sharma leading audience growth across the outlet’s social platforms.
Sharma currently serves on the boards of the Online News Association and International Women’s Media Foundation and has been interviewed by MSNBC, The New York Times, the Columbia Journalism Review and more. She has continually rallied for diversified voices across the media landscape and in newsroom leadership positions and pushes the conversation forward on any and every issue affecting young people today.
Hosokawa Journalism Awards
The Hosokawa Journalism Awards for calendar year 2024 went to:
- Arham Khan ’25 - “" (Humor)
- Kaitlyn Salazar ’25 - “” (Feature)
- Chloe Collins ’25 - “” (Photography)
- Garrett Schreiber ’26 - “” (Opinion)
- Uma Bratt ’26 - "" (Illustration)
- Chloé Williams ’26 - “” (News)
2024 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture
The 2024 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture took place on Tuesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom. Journalist delivered a talk titled “Storytelling Against the Crisis.”
Newkirk is senior editor at The Atlantic and host and co-creator of podcasts “Floodlines” and “Holy Week.” For years, Newkirk has covered voting rights, democracy, and environmental justice, with a focus on how race and class shape the country's and the world's fundamental structures, across media. Newkirk is a 2022 Andrew Carnegie fellow, and was a 2020 James Beard Award Finalist, a 2020 11th Hour Fellow at New America, and a 2018 recipient of the American Society of Magazine Editors's ASME Next Award. In 2021, Newkirk received the Peabody Award for Floodlines. His journalism inspired the 2022 documentary film Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, for which he also served as a consulting producer.
Hosokawa Journalism Awards
The Hosokawa Journalism Awards for the 2023 calendar year went to:
- Natalie Comerford ’25 and Coden Stark ’24 - “" (News)
- Alexa Grechishkin ’25 - “” (Feature)
- Sailor Harris ’26 - “” (Photography)
- Bex Heimbrock ’25 - “” (Opinion/Editorial)
- Paloma Link ’24 - "" (Illustration)
- Audrey Marthin ’26 - “” (Sports)
2023 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture
The 2023 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture took place on Tuesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom. Journalist delivered a talk titled “Civil Discourse in an Uncivil Age.”
Heffner is the host of “The Open Mind” on PBS and co-author of the bestselling book, “A Documentary History of the United States.” He is the recipient of Johns Hopkins University’s Agora Institute Fellowship, University of Denver’s Anvil of Freedom Award, Franklin Pierce University’s Fitzwater Medallion for Leadership in Public Communication, and Yale University’s Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. He has covered American culture, politics and civic life since the 2008 presidential campaign, and his writing appears in USA Today, Wired, Time, The Wall Street Journal, and beyond.
Hosokawa Journalism Awards
The Hosokawa Journalism Awards for calendar year 2022 went to:
- Sebastian Squire ’25 - “" (News)
- Charlotte Elliott ’23 - “” (Sports)
- Samantha Fitts ’23 - “” (Features/Arts and Entertainment)
- Bex Heimbrock ’25 - “” (Opinion/Editorial)
- Jake Lee ’25 - “” (Photography)
2023 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture
The 2022 Hosokawa Journalism Lecture took place on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom. Journalist Corrine Chin delivered a talk titled “Lead From Where You Are: Visual Storytelling for Inclusion and Innovation.”
As Director of News Talent for Recruitment at the Associated Press (AP), she works to bring new, diverse journalists to the AP. She is a former senior video journalist at The Seattle Times, where she founded and led that newsroom's Diversity & Inclusion Task Force. She has also worked at CNN as a senior video producer.
As a storyteller, Chin amplifies underrepresented voices through innovative online video projects like “Beyond the Border,” a series of visual stories exploring immigration and deportation, and “Under Our Skin,” an interactive documentary exploring the words we use—and misuse—to talk about race in America. Her work has been recognized by the National Emmy Awards, Online News Association, Radio Television Digital News Association (national Edward R. Murrow Awards), NPPA Best of Photojournalism, Pictures of the Year International and more.
Hosokawa Journalism Awards
The Hosokawa Journalism Awards for calendar year 2021 went to:
- Rosa Woolsey ’23 - “” (News)
- Hailey Livingston ’22 - “Whitman didn’t count you in the security report? Me too.” (Opinion)
- Jaime Fields ’23 - “” (Sports)
- Zoe Schacter-Brodie ’23 - “” (Feature)
- Bridget Kennedy ’23 - “” (Photography)
- Our Staff
- Starting a Project
- Writing & Editing
-
Media Relations
-
Whitman Wire Responses
- April 30, 2025: Conversations About Whitman Housing Requirements
- April 28, 2025: LGBTQIA+ Wedding Protest and Performance
- April 18, 2025: Faculty Motion Concerning Academic Freedom
- April 18, 2025: International Student Resources and Protocols
- April 14, 2025: Response to Possible Immigration Enforcement
- March 11, 2025: Reductions to RWPD-170 Sections (Bolton)
- March 11, 2025: Reductions to RWPD-170 Sections
- March 11, 2025: FTE at Whitman
- March 11, 2025: Reduction of Sections of RWPD-170
- Feb. 26, 2025: Information on Budget Forum
- Feb. 21, 2025: Colectiva Legal del Pueblo Training
- Feb. 14, 2025: Whitman Wire Responses
- Jan. 30, 2025: Bird Flu
- Jan. 27, 2025: Rep. Baumgartner Meeting With Pres. Bolton
- Jan. 27, 2025: Location of February Board Meetings
- News Tips Form
-
Whitman Wire Responses
- Email Listservs
- Social Media
-
Photo & Video
- Printing Services
- Mailing Services
- The Hosokawa Journalism Endowment
- Our Staff
- Starting a Project
- Writing & Editing
-
Media Relations
-
Whitman Wire Responses
- April 30, 2025: Conversations About Whitman Housing Requirements
- April 28, 2025: LGBTQIA+ Wedding Protest and Performance
- April 18, 2025: Faculty Motion Concerning Academic Freedom
- April 18, 2025: International Student Resources and Protocols
- April 14, 2025: Response to Possible Immigration Enforcement
- March 11, 2025: Reductions to RWPD-170 Sections (Bolton)
- March 11, 2025: Reductions to RWPD-170 Sections
- March 11, 2025: FTE at Whitman
- March 11, 2025: Reduction of Sections of RWPD-170
- Feb. 26, 2025: Information on Budget Forum
- Feb. 21, 2025: Colectiva Legal del Pueblo Training
- Feb. 14, 2025: Whitman Wire Responses
- Jan. 30, 2025: Bird Flu
- Jan. 27, 2025: Rep. Baumgartner Meeting With Pres. Bolton
- Jan. 27, 2025: Location of February Board Meetings
- News Tips Form
-
Whitman Wire Responses
- Email Listservs
- Social Media
-
Photo & Video
- Printing Services
- Mailing Services
- The Hosokawa Journalism Endowment