Earlier this month, the Washington Press Club Foundation honored former PBS NewsHour correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault with a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award. She received the prestigious award at the 71st Annual Congressional Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Hunter-Gault is noted for being one of the first African American students to attend the University of Georgia. For decades after that, her career in news focused on inequality and civil rights, beginning with NPR where she served as chief correspondent in Africa and CNN where she served as bureau chief in Johannesburg.
She also worked for the New York Times and The New Yorker.
A current resident of South Africa and a wine producer, Hunter-Gault was one of the first journalists to interview Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison in 1990 and went on to interview him on many more occasions after that.
An author of several books, Hunter-Gault has received several awards including two Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards; her human rights reporting has been recognized by Amnesty International.
