James B. Stewart, columnist at The New York Times, a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of eleven books, will receive the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s highest honor – its Distinguished Achievement Award, for 2020. The award is given to an individual who has made a significant impact on the field of business journalism and who has served as a nurturing influence on others in the profession.
“I’m honored and humbled to join the distinguished list of SABEW honorees, many of whom have been my friends, colleagues and role models,” Stewart said. “I’ve had a wonderful career exploring the endlessly fascinating intersection of money, power and human nature. I hope this recognition inspires others to do the same.” Stewart will accept the award at the Friday, May 1, luncheon during the SABEW20 spring conference in Toronto. He will share career highlights and insights with the membership.
“James B. Stewart’s array of remarkable achievements is nearly too expansive to concisely describe. SABEW is pleased to celebrate his superior contributions as a business journalist across the multimedia landscape, including as a book author, magazine writer, newspaper reporter and columnist as well as an insightful and engaging television commentator,” said Mark Hamrick, Washington bureau chief and senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com and chair of the SABEW committee that nominated Stewart for the Distinguished Achievement Award. “Beyond that, Mr. Stewart is a beloved professor of journalism dedicated to personally educating and inspiring future practitioners of our craft.”
Stewart is the recipient of a 1988 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism for his coverage of the stock market crash of 1987 and the Ivan Boesky insider trading scandal.
He is the author of several books, including “Den of Thieves,” about Wall Street in the 80s, “Heart of a Soldier,” named the best non-fiction book of 2002 by Time magazine, and “Blind Eye,” an investigation of the medical profession. Stewart is also the author of “Blood Sport,” a book about the Clinton White House and the Whitewater affair.
Stewart is the Bloomberg professor of business journalism at Columbia University and teaches in the business section of the M.A. program. He has also been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992 and has written numerous feature stories for the magazine. Prior to that, he was the front-page editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1988 until 1992 and helped start SmartMoney magazine in 1993.
The SABEW Distinguished Achievement Award was established in 1993, when it was awarded to Hobart Rowan of The Washington Post. There have been 26 prior recipients.
SABEW is the world’s largest association dedicated to business and financial journalism. Follow on Twitter @SABEW. For more information, contact Kathleen Graham, SABEW executive director, at kgraham@sabew.org.
