The Chronicle has given its 2008 David W. Miller Award for Student Journalists to Lois E. Beckett, a senior at Harvard University.
The $2,500 prize was given to Ms. Beckett for three articles published in March in the The Harvard Crimson as part of a series she wrote about the role of intellectuals in the buildup to the war in Iraq. In making its choice, the Miller committee cited the depth of Ms. Beckett's reporting, the balance of viewpoints she presented, and the grace of her writing.
Ms. Beckett, 22, who is majoring in social studies, was inspired to write the series after reading a 1967 essay by Noam Chomsky, "The Responsibility of Intellectuals," for a course on social thought in modern America. In one article, she interviewed Harvard foreign-policy experts who had supported the war, asked them to explain their current thinking, and explored whether they were accountable for faulty analyses. In another article, she profiled Christopher L. Foote, a Harvard economist who was part of a team sent to Iraq in 2003 to help rebuild the economy. In the third article, Ms. Beckett interviewed scholars who had been against the invasion of Iraq but had not spoken out at the time.
"What was interesting about doing the reporting," she said in an interview last week, "was that while Chomsky set out a clear goal of what the intellectual should do, people's ideas were so affected by what kind of difference they thought it would make. So many professors thought it wouldn't make a difference [to speak out]." In some cases, Ms. Beckett found, scholars were simply unaware that other experts shared their views.
"Knowing what is right and what is wrong is helpful," she said, "but there are all these other more subtle, more personal factors that affect the way moral decisions are going to be made."
Ms. Beckett, who spent the summer of 2007 reporting in Ghana and this past summer writing for a women's magazine in India, said she might pursue journalism after graduation but was also considering graduate work in education. Her senior thesis is about the role of classroom discussion in the university. "I'm definitely going to keep writing, but I'm not sure in what capacity," she said.
The Miller Award commemorates David W. Miller, a senior writer at The Chronicle, who in 2002, at the age of 35, was killed by a drunken driver.
With the award, The Chronicle seeks to pay tribute to Mr. Miller's insistence on responsible journalism, voracious curiosity about people and ideas, and commitment to great writing. The Chronicle also hopes to recognize future generations of reporters who show those qualities. About 100 students applied for the 2008 award, the sixth year in which it has been presented.
