The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

and the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

. The WHCA operates independently of the White House. Application for membership is mad
online
and granted by the association on the basis of criteria. Historically, notable issues handled by the WHCA were the credentialing process, access to the president and physical conditions in the White House press briefing rooms. Its most high-profile activity is the annual

White House Correspondents' dinner The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...

, which is traditionally attended by the president and covered by the news media. Except for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...

in 1924. In February 2025, the White House announced that the WHCA would no longer determine which outlets are allowed access to the president.

Association leadership

The leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association for 2024–25 includes: *Officers **President:

Eugene Daniels Eugene Anthony Daniels-Stephens II (born February 12, 1989) is an American journalist. Formerly a writer for ''Politico'', Daniels joined MSNBC full-time as its senior Washington correspondent in 2025 after having been an on-air contributor sin ...

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

**Vice President:

Weijia Jiang Weijia Jiang (; born June 6, 1983) is a Chinese-American television journalist and reporter. She is based in Washington, D.C., and has served as the Senior White House Correspondent for CBS News since July 2018. Jiang's question to President D ...

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

**Treasurer: Sara Cook,

**Secretary: Justin Sink,

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

*Board members **Andrew Harnik,

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (stylized as gettyimages) is a visual media company and supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video, and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three mark ...

Jacqui Heinrich Jacqui Heinrich is an American journalist, news anchor and Senior White House Correspondent for Fox News. Career As a reporter and anchor for Boston 25 News, Heinrich covered the Las Vegas mass shooting in October 2017. Heinrich joined Fox ...

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

**Trevor Hunnicutt,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

**Courtney Subramanian,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

**Karen Travers,

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

*Executive Director **Steven Thomma

Association presidents

White House press room

The WHCA was formerly responsible for assigned seating in the

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room __NOTOC__ The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room is a small theater in the West Wing of the White House where the White House press secretary gives briefings to the news media and the president of the United States sometimes addresses the press an ...

in the

White House Correspondents' dinner

The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1921,"The Early Years (1914 - 1921)"
, White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 2017-02-25. has become a

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

tradition, and is traditionally attended by the president and vice president. Except for

, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with

in 1924. The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the

Washington Hilton The Washington Hilton is a Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. It is located at 1919 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., roughly at the boundaries of the Kalorama, Dupont Circle, and Adams Morgan neighborhoods. History The Washington Hilton, located on ...

. Until 1962, the dinner was open only to men, even though WHCA's membership included women. At the urging of

Helen Thomas Helen Amelia Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an American reporter and author, and a long-serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from th ...

, President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

refused to attend the dinner unless the ban on women was dropped. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the annual dinner featured singing between courses, a homemade movie, and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers. Since 1983, the featured speaker has usually been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a comedy roast of the president and his administration. The dinner also funds

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

s for gifted students in college journalism programs. Many annual dinners have been cancelled or downsized due to deaths or political crises. The dinner was cancelled in 1930 due to the death of former president

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

; in 1942, following the United States' entry into World War II; and in 1951, over what President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

called the "uncertainty of the world situation.""White House Correspondents Dinner: 25 Memorable Moments,"
''National Journal'', by Julia Edwards, April 27, 2011 In 1981,

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

did not attend because he was recuperating after the attempted assassination the previous month, but he did phone in and told a joke about the shooting. During his presidency,

did not attend the dinners in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Trump indicated that he might attend in 2019 since this dinner did not feature a comedian as the featured speaker. However, on April 5, 2019, he announced that he again would not attend, calling the dinner "so boring, and so negative," instead hosting a political rally that evening in Wisconsin. On April 22, Trump ordered a boycott of the dinner, with

White House Cabinet Secretary The White House cabinet secretary is a high-ranking position within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The White House cabinet secretary is the head of the Office of Cabinet Affairs (OCA) within the White House Office and ...

Bill McGinley assembling the agencies'

chiefs of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

to issue a directive that members of the administration not attend. However, some members of the administration attended pre- and post-dinner parties.

Dinner criticisms

The WHCD has been increasingly criticized as an example of the coziness between the

White House press corps White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavele ...

and the administration.Joe Strupp
"WHCA Prez Defends Dinner Amid Criticism Of 'Coziness' and Rich Little"
''

Editor and Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the news media industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry," with offices in Hendersonville, ...

'', April 24, 2007 The dinner has typically included a skit, either live or videotaped, by the sitting U.S. president in which he mocks himself, for the amusement of the press corps. The press corps, in turn, hobnobs with administration officials, even those who are unpopular and are not regularly cooperative with the press. Increasing scrutiny by

bloggers A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

has contributed to added public focus on this friendliness. After the 2007 dinner, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' columnist

Frank Rich Frank Hart Rich Jr. (born June 2, 1949) is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO. Rich is ...

implied that the ''Times'' would no longer participate in the dinners.Rich, Frank
All the President's Press
''The New York Times'', April 29, 2007. Rich wrote that the dinner had become "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

era" because it "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows". Other criticism has focused on the amount of money actually raised for scholarships, which has decreased over the past few years. The dinners have drawn increasing public attention, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood". The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation". This has led to an atmosphere of coming to the event only to "see and be seen". This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves. The public airings of the controversies around the dinner from the mid-2000s onward gradually focused concern about the nature of the event. While interest in the event from entertainers, journalists, and political figures was high during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

, by the period of the

Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...

, interest gradually slowed in attending, especially after President Trump announced he would not attend, nor his staff. Business related to the weekend event slowed considerably, including at hotels, high-end restaurants, salons, caterers, and limo companies. During the Trump administration, some media companies stopped hosting parties, while other of the roughly 25 events held during the three-day period gained more prominence as signs of social status. By 2019, the dinner and associated parties had returned somewhat to their previous nature as networking and media functions, with packed houses of media industry employees and Washington political figures. After the April 30, 2022, dinner, several attendees, including Secretary of State

Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...

tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. However, no cases of serious illness were reported as a result of the dinner.

List of dinners

Gallery

Awards

: ''Note'': Award years represent the date the work was published/broadcast, which is always one year before the prize was awarded.

The Aldo Beckman Memorial Award

Established in 1981 in memory of Aldo Beckman (1934–1980), the "late ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' Washington bureau chief, a past president of the association.... Given annually to a Washington reporter 'who personifies the journalistic excellence as well as the personal qualities exemplified by Mr. Beckman, an award-winning White House correspondent.'" Awarded for overall excellence in White House coverage.

Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure

The award was established in 1970 as the

Merriman Smith Albert Merriman Smith (February 10, 1913 – April 13, 1970) was an American wire service reporter, notably serving as White House correspondent for United Press International and its predecessor, United Press. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964 fo ...

Memorial Award for outstanding examples of deadline reporting.White House Correspondents' Association Journalism Awards
WHCA official website. Retrieved 2017-02-25. (Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1970.) The award was renamed in 2022 after the WHCA determined that Smith had supported excluding Black and female journalists from membership in the

National Press Club A press club is an organization for journalists and others who are professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press Club ...

and from attending the

White House Correspondents' Dinner The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...

Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability

A $10,000 prize to "recognize an individual or newsgathering team for coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance in line with the human and professional qualities exemplified by the late

Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, wh ...

, the distinguished former publisher of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Debuted in 2020.

Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists

$1,000 "award recognizes a video or photojournalist for uniquely covering the presidency from a journalistic standpoint, either at the White House or in the field. This could be breaking news, a scheduled event or feature coverage." Debuted in 2020.

Discontinued awards

The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award

Named in honor of the distinguished correspondent Edgar Allen Poe (1906–1998), a former WHCA president unrelated to the American fiction writer of the nearly identical name. Funded by the ''

New Orleans Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' and Newhouse Newspapers, the award honored excellence in news coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance to the American people. The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award was presented from 1990 to 2019, when it was replaced by the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability and the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists. Notable past winners of the award include Rochelle Sharpe,

Marjie Lundstrom Marjie Lundstrom (born 1956) is an American journalist. She received the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1991. Lundstrom has worked for ''The Fort Collins Coloradoan'', the ''Denver Monthly'', and ''The Denver Post''. She was a reporter ...

Michael Tackett Michael Tackett is an American journalist who covers national politics for ''The New York Times''. He is a former recipient of the White House Correspondent's Association's Edgar A. Poe Award for National Reporting. Early life and education ...

Russell Carollo Russell John Carollo (March 16, 1955 – December 19, 2018) was an American Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, who worked as an investigative reporter for numerous publications, including the ''Dayton Daily News'', the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...

Cheryl Reed Cheryl L. Reed (born 1966) is an American author and journalist. She won the 1996 Harvard Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting while at the ''Dayton Daily News''. She is the author of ''Poison Girls'', and ''Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nun ...

Michael Isikoff Michael Isikoff (born June 16, 1952) is an American investigative journalist who used to be the Chief Investigative Correspondent at Yahoo! News. He is the co-author with David Corn of the book titled '' Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Puti ...

Sam Roe Sam Roe is a journalist who was part of a team of reporters at the ''Chicago Tribune'' that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for an examination of hazardous toys and other children's products. He is currently an editor for th ...

Sean Naylor Sean D. Naylor is a Canadian journalist. Naylor is the National Security Correspondent for Yahoo News. He previously covered intelligence and counterterrorism for ''Foreign Policy'' and spent over 20 years at ''Army Times'', with stints as an embe ...

Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada co-authored the book '' Game of Shadows'' while they were reporters for the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. For their investigative work in the field of steroids, Williams and Fainaru-Wada were given the 2004 Geo ...

, Marcus Stern,

Megan Twohey Megan Twohey ( ) is an American journalist. She is an Investigative journalism, investigative reporter at ''The New York Times'' and previously reported for Reuters, the ''Chicago Tribune,'' and the ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel''. Twohey's repo ...

David Fahrenthold David A. Fahrenthold (born 1978) is an American journalist who writes for ''The New York Times.'' Previously he wrote for ''The Washington Post''. He has also served as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2017, he was awarded the Puli ...

, and

Norah O'Donnell Norah Morahan O'Donnell (born January 23, 1974) is an American television journalist who is a senior correspondent for CBS News and a contributing correspondent for ''60 Minutes''. She is also the host of occasional '' Person to Person'' interv ...

Raymond Clapper Memorial Award

Named in honor of Raymond Clapper (1892-1944) and given "to a journalist or team for distinguished Washington reporting." The award was presented from 1944 to 2003, usually at the WHCA dinner (although in the period 1951–1965 it was presented at the

American Society of News Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editing, editors, news director, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, Dean (education), deans or faculty at Journalism school, ...

annual dinner). In 2004, the award passed to the Scripps Howard

National Journalism Awards The Scripps Howard Awards, formerly the National Journalism Awards, are $10,000 awards in American journalism given by the Scripps Howard Foundation. Awardees receive "cash prizes, citations and plaques." As of 2023, the categories are: * Exc ...

. Under Scripps Howard, the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award was presented until 2011, at which point it was discontinued. Notable past winners of the Raymond Clapper Award included

Ernie Pyle Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was an American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II. Pyle is also notable for the Columnist#Newspaper and ...

Nicholas Lemann Nicholas Berthelot Lemann is an American writer and academic, and is the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He ...

, Clark R. Mollenhoff,

James Reston James "Scotty" Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995) was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.'' Early life and educati ...

Joseph Albright Joseph P. Albright (November 8, 1938 – March 20, 2009) was an American jurist who first served on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia from 1995 to 1996. In November 2000, he was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals for a full ...

, Morton Mintz,

Adam Liptak Adam Liptak (born September 2, 1960) is an American journalist, lawyer and instructor in law and journalism. He is the Supreme Court correspondent for ''The New York Times''. Liptak has written for ''The New Yorker'', '' Vanity Fair'', ''Rolling ...

, Helene Cooper, Jean Heller, Newbold Noyes Jr.,

Thomas Lunsford Stokes Thomas Lunsford Stokes, Jr. (November 1, 1898 – May 14, 1958) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist. Biography Thomas Stokes was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 1, 1898, to Thomas Lunsford Stokes and Emma Layton, both desce ...

Tom Squitieri Tom Squitieri (born August 25, 1953) was an American journalist, public speaker, and public relations specialist. Since January 2018, he had been the Pentagon correspondent for Red Snow News. Squitieri was an award-winning reporter with ''USA To ...

, Marcus Stern, Susan Feeney, Doris Fleeson,

James Polk James Knox Polk (; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Jacksonian democracy an ...

, James V. Risser, and

William Neikirk William Robert Neikirk (January 6, 1938 – August 27, 2020) was an American journalist, editor, and author. He spent 48 years as a reporter and served as White House correspondent for the ''Chicago Tribune'' during the Clinton administration. ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Presidential Remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, March 15, 1941 to present
at

The American Presidency Project The American Presidency Project (APP) is a free searchable online archive that has compiled the messages, documents, or papers of American presidents from 1789 to the present, as well as basic statistics and information related to studying the pr ...

White House Correspondents' Dinner - 1921 - 2024
at Factba.se -

Roll Call ''Roll Call'' is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of c ...

White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
at

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

() {{Authority control Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Journalism-related professional associations Professional associations based in the United States Organizations established in 1914 1914 establishments in Washington, D.C. White House correspondents American journalism organizations Dining events