Award-Winning Advice on Reporting and Visual Storytelling

Persistence and Discipline in Journalism Are the Best Prizes, Winners Say Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Jahi Chikwendiu and NABJ Journalist of the Year, Beatrice Peterson of ABC News, say persistence and discipline are the engines of true journalistic excellence. by Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation The annual journalism awards announcement season focuses on heralding the best of the best in the media industry. For the June 2026 National Press Foundation Widening the Pipeline Fellowship virtual training, early-career journalists of color received exclusive insights from two honorees at the peak of their careers. Jahi Chikwendiu is the former Washington Post photojournalist who won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for his photo story about a terminally ill young father’s wrenching determination to live long enough to meet his son. And Beatrice Peterson, an ABC News national correspondent who’s the 2026 National Association of Black Journalists journalist of the year, also joined the conversation. Both journalists stressed that the most impactful journalism usually doesn’t stem from a desire to chase awards. After a 24-year stint with the Washington Post, Chikwendiu said a successful career requires a foundation of purpose, discipline, courage, and patience. He needed all of those skills when interacting with Tanner and Shay Martin, a couple confronting the birth of their first child and a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The project required intense focus and empathy, Chikwendiu said. “My goal to show these pockets where he was alive and well and him and his family were living while we know that he was hooked on this cocktail of cancer drugs and medications, while making the decision to start a young family and to search for these moments of heavy burden. It’s about not being afraid to be in the space and make these people trust me and be comfortable enough with me to show them in their most troubling times and remembering myself through reminders from them to just be still.” Peterson’s ABC News beat includes the White House, national security, intelligence, Congress, and elections. She’s built a reputation for her reporting on federal power, Black political organizing, and the US intelligence community. Peterson highlighted the necessity of independent, on-the-ground reporting, such as her two-month stint on Capitol Hill building her own database of information during former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation process. “ I knew that she was visiting offices. I think she visited about 60 offices on Capitol Hill every day. I was there talking to the offices, talking to the staffers, trying to see where each office was thinking about voting. I had done myself my own list. I had my own list of handouts of all the hundred members of the Senate and where they might vote on this because I really couldn’t rely on other people’s reporting. There was a lot of information that was going back and forth that may or may not have been accurate and so I needed to create my own database.” That kind of effort and commitment goes far beyond the promise of a shiny statue, Peterson said. “It wasn’t because I chased an award. The award found me and it’s an incredible experience.” Even in these turbulent times for media, Chikwendiu said journalists can still find greater meaning while striving for excellence. “We have to come up with some sort of sense of purpose with our lives and start to be bold and set goals for us to chase. I know everybody’s on this different path, but if we don’t set these goals out there, then we don’t have something deliberate to walk toward.” Speakers: - Jahi Chikwendiu, Former Washington Post Photojournalist; Winner, 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography - Beatrice Peterson, National Enterprise Reporter at ABC News; NABJ's 2026 Journalist of the Year This video was produced within the Evelyn Y. Davis studios. NPF is solely responsible for the content.