Jim Wooten

The 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award was given to Jim Wooten for We Are All the Same. Wooten’s We Are All the Same puts a human face on the African AIDS epidemic through the story of one South African child and his mother.

The global battle against the ravages and spread of AIDS is set against the life and death of Nkosi Johnson, a young South African boy who, despite having been born with the ailment, became a dramatic symbol of the struggle against the disease and the strength of the human spirit in the face of tragedy.

Jim Wooten spent more than 40 years as a national and foreign correspondent. He served as ABC News’ Senior Correspondent, contributing to World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America, and other ABC News broadcasts. In 1994, his reports from Rwanda and Zaire for World News Tonight and Nightline won the Overseas Press Club Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and the Joe Alex Morris Award from Harvard University for distinguished foreign reporting. Before joining ABC News, Wooten had been on the staff of Esquire magazine; written a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer; and served as a bureau chief, national correspondent, and White House correspondent for The New York Times. He lives in Washington, D.C.