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2019 Center Awards

Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, and WGN-TV news anchor Lourdes Duarte received awards from DePaul University’s Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence on April 25, 2019.

Dean Baquet’s long career as a journalist has included several years with the Chicago Tribune, where he led a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for documenting corruption in the Chicago City Council. Lourdes Duarte, who graduated from DePaul with a bachelor’s degree in communication, is one of WGN’s top investigative reporters.

Center directors Carol Marin and Don Moseley presented the awards at an invitation-only event at the Union League Club of Chicago. Previous recipients of the award include:

  • Lester Holt, "NBC Nightly News"(Distinguished Journalist Award)
  • Jane Pauley, "CBS Sunday Morning" (Distinguished Journalist Award)
  • Ben Welsh, Los Angeles Times (Distinguished Alumni Award)
  • Ann Pistone, ABC7 Chicago (Distinguished Alumni Award)

Listen: Dean Baquet and Lourdes Duarte talk with journalism students in the center's podcast, "So You Want to Be a Reporter"

About the Honorees

Dean Baquet ‘skillfully guides journalists’

Dean Baquet, Recipient of the Distinguished Journalist Award

Dean Baquet
Dean Baquet (Photo by Tom Heisler)

Dean Baquet became executive editor of The New York Times in May 2014. In this role, he serves in the highest ranked position in The Times’s newsroom and oversees news gathering in all its various forms. Baquet is the first African American to serve in this role.

He got his start at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he worked for nearly seven years. Baquet then reported for the Chicago Tribune from 1984 to 1990. While at the Tribune, he served as associate metro editor for investigations and was chief investigative reporter, covering corruption in politics and the garbage-hauling industry. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in March 1988 when he led a team of three in documenting corruption in the Chicago City Council, and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 in the investigative reporting category.

Baquet has also served as managing editor and editor of the Los Angeles Times. He has held several positions at The New York Times, including Washington bureau chief, metro editor and national editor. Baquet has received numerous local and regional awards.

Video: Dean Baquet Accepts the 2019 Distinguished Journalist Award

Lourdes Duarte brings ‘breadth and depth’ to reporting

Lourdes Duarte, Recipient of the Distinguished Alumna Award

Lourdes Duarte
Lourdes Duarte (Photo by Amy Aiello)

Lourdes Duarte is a four-time Emmy Award winner and co-anchors the “WGN Evening News at 4 p.m.” Prior to her role on the evening news, Duarte co-anchored the top-rated “WGN Morning News.” She also hosts WGN’s public affairs program “Adelante Chicago.”

Duarte started her journalism career as a reporter for Telemundo Chicago. She then went on to work in news markets throughout the country including Miami, Indianapolis and Detroit. While in Indianapolis she launched, produced and hosted the public affairs show “Hoy en Dia,” which won an Emmy for its impact on the Latino community.

Duarte has been recognized for her volunteer work and engagement with Chicago’s minority communities. DePaul’s College of Communication students awarded Duarte the Shining Star Award, and she was named one of the university’s 14 under 40. She now serves on the dean’s advisory council for the college.

Video: Lourdes Duarte Accepts the 2019 Distinguished Alumna Award

Adapted from DePaul Newsroom.