2022 Book and Journalism Awards Special Guest Presenters

Kimberly Adams is host and correspondent covering the intersection of politics and the economy for NPR’s Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Tech.

Dan Blackburn is a veteran broadcast and print journalist with more than forty years of experience ranging from covering presidents to predators.

Douglas Brinkley is an author and the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history at Rice University. He is a history commentator for CNN and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair.

Margaret Engel directs the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation, which gives grants to journalists in the name of Alicia Patterson, the founder of Newsday.

Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History, Harvard Law School and Professor of History, Harvard University.

In 1991, Harwood joined the Wall Street Journal as a White House, Congressional and national political correspondent. He later wrote for the New York Times. In 2006 he became Chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC, and in 2020 joined CNN as White House correspondent.

Rory Kennedy is an Academy Award-nominated, Primetime Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. Kennedy’s work includes DOWNFALL: The Case Against Boeing (Netflix), Last Days in Vietnam (PBS), Ethel (HBO), and Take Every Wave (IFC), all of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Michael Lewis has published many New York Times bestselling books on various subjects. His most recent works are The Premonition, The Fifth Risk, The Undoing Project, Flash Boys, and The Big Short. Mr. Lewis is also a columnist for Bloomberg View and a contributing writer to Audible.

Jane Mayer has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1995. The magazine’s chief Washington correspondent, she covers politics, culture, and national security.

Craig Melvin is an award-winning news anchor on NBC News’ “TODAY,” a co-host of 3rd Hour TODAY, anchor of MSNBC's "Craig Melvin Reports," and a host of “Dateline.” His breaking news coverage and reporting appears across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms.

Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning documentarian, journalist, speaker, author, and philanthropist, who founded Soledad O’Brien Productions, a multi-platform media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues.

Symone D. Sanders is a political strategist and commentator. She served as national press secretary for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.

John Seigenthaler is a former anchor and correspondent for NBC Nightly News.

Van Jones is widely known as a U.S. media personality, an entrepreneur and a world-class change maker.