Downie receives Maxwell Award at ONA Convention
Cleveland native Leonard Downie, now vice president of The Washington Post, was the first recipient of ONA’s William Maxwell Award, presented in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the advancement of the newspaper profession. Ken Douthit, president of ONA, presented the award to Downie at the Thursday, Feb. 12, luncheon during the ONA Convention at the Hilton Columbus.
The William Maxwell Award was established by the board of trustees as one of the activities during the year-long observance of ONA’s 75th anniversary, which concludes at the 2009 Convention. The award is named for the publisher and editor of The Centinel of the Northwest Territory. Established in Cincinnati in 1793, The Centinel was the first newspaper in what would become the state of Ohio, admitted to the Union in 1803.
In announcing Downie’s selection, Douthit stated, “As a journalist, Len Downie has exemplified the Maxwell spirit in advancing the profession in many ways, from his continued involvement with the journalism program at Ohio State University to his numerous accomplishments during a stellar career with The Washington Post.”
Downie received his BA and MA degrees in journalism and political science from OSU. He joined The Washington Post as a summer intern in 1964. His reporting won him two Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Front Page Awards, the American Bar Association Gavel Award for legal reporting, and the John Hancock Award for excellence in business and financial writing.
As executive editor, Downie directed a newsroom staff that was awarded 25 Pulitzer Prizes. While serving as metro editor in the 1970’s he helped direct coverage of the Watergate investigation and edited the reports of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, a series of revelations that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
In establishing the Maxwell Award, the ONA board adopted guidelines that allow for nominations of individuals in Ohio or elsewhere and from inside the newspaper profession or other professions. The guidelines provide for recognition of outstanding achievement in a variety of ways that include defense of the First Amendment, championing the public’s right to know, exceptional service to the community through news coverage, acts of heroism in the course of publishing the newspaper, and advancement of journalism principles.
William Maxwell was originally a soldier in the American Revolution who ventured west from New Jersey to set up a small press in a log cabin in what is now downtown Cincinnati. According to accounts of the time, his variety of merchant ads and news articles included verse, ”some of it breathing the spirit of the new world.” His courage and vision led to the advancement of newspapers throughout Ohio and states beyond.
