The prize is named for David Brinkley, a Wilmington, N.C., native, who began his journalism career as a high school student writing for The Wilmington Star. He attended Vanderbilt University before service in the Army interrupted his studies. In 1943, Brinkley got his first full-time broadcasting job: White House correspondent for NBC News. From that auspicious beginning, he spent almost 40 years with NBC radio and television. Brinkley reported on every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. He had covered every presidential election and nominating convention since 1952 and had reported many of the major national news events. For most of the 1960s, he was co-anchor of “The Huntley-Brinkley Report,” a popular network evening newscast. After Huntley retired, Brinkley remained at NBC as co-anchor with John Chancellor on the “NBC Nightly News” and later as a commentator for the program. He moved to ABC in 1981 as host of the Sunday morning interview program, “This Week with David Brinkley.” He retired as host of the show in 1996. Brinkley won every major broadcasting award, including 10 Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards and the Radio and Television News Directors Association’s “Paul White Award” for distinguished service to broadcast journalism. He was inducted into the NC Media & Journalism Hall of Fame in 1989. Brinkley passed away in 2003.