The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy is an annual award given by the American Academy of Diplomacy in recognition of an individual or group who has made exemplary contributions to the field of American diplomacy. It is the Academy’s highest honor and its purpose is to highlight the important contribution of all aspects of diplomacy to the nation’s business. The Award is presented at the Academy’s Annual Awards Luncheon at the State Department in the fall, during which the recipient acts as keynote speaker. Recipients of the Annenberg Award are recommended by the Academy’s Executive Committee and are approved by the Board of Directors.
This year’s Annual Awards Luncheon took place at the Benjamin Franklin Room on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. The event was co-hosted by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. The awardee this year was the 13th and 19th White House Chief of Staff and 61st United States Secretary of State, James A. Baker, III.
James A. Baker, III, has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. He served as the nation’s 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H.W. Bush. During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the post–Cold War era. Baker’s reflections on those years of revolution, war and peace — “The Politics of Diplomacy” — was published in 1995. Read more here.
Below are some previous recipients of the Annenberg Award. The full list is here.
2017: William J. Perry
The 19th United States Secretary of Defense
2016: Robert B. Zoellick
Former World Bank Group President & U.S. Trade Representative
2015: William J. Burns
Under Secretary of State
2014: Carla A. Hills
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
2013: George P. Shultz
Secretary of State
2012: Richard G. Lugar
Senator
2011: Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
2010: Harold Saunders
Director of international affairs, the Kettering Foundation
2009: William Lacy Swing
Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
2008: Ryan C. Crocker
Ambassador to Iraq
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