NEW YORK -- Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory is the recipient of this year's John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism.  The award, administered by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, will be presented November 12 at a black-tie dinner at The Pierre hotel in New York.

The John Chancellor Award, which carries a $25,000 honorarium, is presented annually to an individual whose work best exemplifies the journalistic standard of excellence set by NBC news correspondent and anchor John Chancellor, who anchored the "Nightly News" during a 43-year career with the network.

The award is endowed by the Ira A. Lipman family.  As a 16-year-old high school senior, Lipman was a "reliable source" for Chancellor during the Little Rock Central High School desegregation story.  Lipman, a member of the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, is founder and chairman of Guardsmark, LLC.

"Mary McGrory is a hero and inspiration to generations of journalists.  I am very pleased that she will receive the award named for my hero, John Chancellor," Lipman said.

McGrory has written eloquently about many of the major events of the last half-century.  In 1954 she covered the Army-McCarthy hearings for the Washington Star.  She remained with the Star until 1981 when she joined the Washington Post and the Universal Press Syndicate as a political columnist.   From 1981 until March 2003 McGrory's Washington Post column appeared three times a week in more than 125 newspapers.  Her Watergate commentary led to a Pulitzer Prize.

"Thanks to Mr. Lipman's vision and generosity, we have a chance to honor Mary McGrory, whose work is a much-needed reminder of the vital role that journalism can and should play in our democracy," said Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of Penn's Annenberg School for Communication.

Past award winners include Jim Wooten of ABC News, John Herbers and John Kifner of the New York Times, Claude F. Sitton of the Raleigh (N.C.) News, Paul Duke of PBS and Wilson F. illMinor of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.