1983—Daniel L. Ritchie, Chairman and CEO, Westinghouse Broadcast and Cable, Inc.
1984—David Burnham, Investigative Report, New York Times
1985—Henry M. Rivera, FCC Commissioner
1986—Rep. Al Swift (D-Wash.)
1987—William Baker, President, WNET-TV
1988—Mary Alice Williams, Anchor, CNN NY Bureau, and Vice President, CNN
1989—Tony Schwartz, President, New Sound, Inc.
1990—The Rev. Calvin O. Butts, Pastor, Abyssinian Baptist Church, NYC; and Sheila Stainback, Anchor, WPIX-TV
1991—Ervin S. Duggan, FCC Commissioner
1992—Panel: The Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman, Comptroller, City of New York; Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.); Barbara Reynolds, Columnist, USA Today; Lynn Sherr, ABC-TV
1993—William V. Catucci, Vice President for Government Affairs, AT&T; and Eli Noam, Director, Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia University Business School
1994—Reed Hundt, FCC Chairman
1995—The Rev. Everett C. Parker, Founder, OC, Inc.
1996—Lawrence K. Grossman, President, PBS Horizons Cable Network
1997—Robert Lissit, Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
1998—Paula Madison, Vice President and News Director, WNBC-TV
1999—Mike McCurry, Former White House Press Secretary
2000—Steven Brill, Founder, Brill’s Content
2001—Scott Simon, Host, Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR
2002—Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner
2003—Jay Harris, Annenberg Chair and Director, Center for the Study of Journalism and Democracy, USC; former chair and publisher, San Jose Mercury News
2004—Jeffrey Birnbaum, Columnist/Feature Writer, Washington Post; and Commentator/Analyst, Fox News Channel
2005—Juan Gonzalez, Columnist, New York Daily News; Co-host, Democracy Now!
2006—Amy Goodman, Host, Principal Host, Democracy Now!
2007—Rev. Robert Chase, Founding Director, Intersections
2008—Johnathan Rodgers, CEO & President, TV One
2009—Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches in the U.S.A.
2010—Mignon Clyburn, FCC Commissioner
2011—Steven Waldman, co-founder, Beliefnet.com, and principal author, FCC’s Future of the Media Report
2012—Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
2013—Hilary O. Shelton, Washington Bureau Director and Senior Vice President for Advocacy, NAACP
2014—Chairman Tom Wheeler, Federal Communications Commission
2015—Dr. danah boyd, founder, Data & Society Research Institute
2016—Rev. Traci Blackmon, acting executive minister of the United Church of Christ’s Justice and Witness Ministries
2017—Rinku Sen, outgoing president and executive director of Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation
2018—Helen Brunner, director, Global Fund and founding director of the Media Democracy Fund
2019—Rev. Julian De Shazier, senior pastor of University Church in Chicago
2020—Valarie Kaur, founder, Revolutionary Love Project and author, See No Stranger
2021—Eric K. Ward, executive director, Western States Center
2022—Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights              2023—Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair, Federal Communications Commission                                        2024—Paul Farhi, former Washington Post media reporter

—— 1987—Daniel L. Ritchie, Westinghouse Broadcasting
1988—Emma L. Bowen, Black Citizens for a Fair Media
1989—Henry Geller, former FCC General Counsel
1990—Richard D. Hirsch, religious communicator
1991—Andrew Schwartzman, Media Access Project
1992—Judith Moyers, PBS producer
1993—William Fore, religious communicator
1994—Pamela Illott, CBS religious producer
1995—Neil Hickey, editor, TV Guide
1996—Lawrence Grossman, cable TV network
1997—Jose Roberto Gutierrez, Hispanic Television Network
1998—Earle K. Moore, attorney
1999—Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass)
2000—Randy Naylor, National Council of Churches
2001—Mario Morino, The Morino Institute
2002—Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
2003—Peggy Charren, Action for Children’s Television
2004—David Honig, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
2005—Angela Campbell, Institute for Public Representation
2006—Katherine Grincewich, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
2007—Senator Olympia Snowe
2008—Prometheus Radio Project
2009—Patti Miller, Vice President of Public Policy, Sesame Workshop
2010—Carol Pierson, President and CEO, retired, National Federation of Community Broadcasters
2011—Alex Nogales, President and CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition
2012—Charles Benton, Chairman, Benton Foundation
2013—Albert H. Kramer, Citizens Communications Center
2014—Makani Themba, Executive Director, The Praxis Project
2015—Joseph Torres, senior external affairs director of Free Press and co-author of News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media
2016—Dee Davis, president and founder of the Center for Rural Strategies
2017—Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color Of Change
2018—Gigi B. Sohn, a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate
2019—Cayden Mak, executive director of 18 Million Rising
2020—Karen Peltz Strauss, disabilities advocate and former deputy chief, Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
2021—Angela Siefer, executive director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance
2022—Jessica J. González, co-CEO of Free Press                                        2023—Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)                                                    2024—Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY)

2011—Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner
2016—Mignon Clyburn, FCC Commissioner                                    2024—Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator