A leading public figure with Brentwood roots will be honored by group of journalists later this month for her civic contributions. Maria Shriver, who worked as a journalist for NBC’s Dateline, will receive the Public Service Award for Journalistic Contributions to Civic Life by the Los Angeles Press Club on June 29. She will be honored June 29 at the Press Club’s annual gala to be held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
In an announcement released by the Los Angeles Press Club, Shriver is being honored “for her expert use of considerable journalistic skill and experience to help make the world a better place.”
Most recently, the niece of John F. Kennedy has been campaigning her “Shriver Report,” which shed light on mental illness and Alzheimer’s disease. Shriver has appeared on several networks, such as HBO and NBC, to promote the report and raise awareness of the challenges facing people directly impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, mental illness, and other issues ranging from disenfranchisement to the poor.
“The Shriver Report’s Special Reports are book-length examinations of major transformational forces in American society affecting women and families, combining research and analysis from the nation’s top academic institutions and think tanks with news-making national polls, captivating photography, and personal narratives from everyday Americans along with leaders from the worlds of government, corporate, faith, opinion, and media,” an email from the Press Club about the June 29 banquet stated.
Taking a break from her work as a journalist and producer between 2003 and 2011 to serve as First Lady of California, Shriver has resumed the work she did prior to her time in Sacramento.
“I’m a journalist, producer, author & mother. My mission is to inform, inspire & ignite people to be Architects of Change in their own lives & communities,” Shriver describes about herself on her Facebook page.
Shriver earned two Emmy Awards for her work as executive producer of The Alzheimer’s Project. She is also the author of six bestselling books and possesses a Peabody Award earned for her work in television journalism.
Honors and awards aside, Shriver also has a nursery and hybrid-rose named after her. Her namesake nursery is located at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. In 2004, when she was serving as First Lady of California, a pure white grandiflora was named “Maria Shriver Rose.”
Still a resident of Brentwood, Shriver is also the sister of former Santa Monica mayor and current supervisorial candidate Bobby Shriver.
Other honorees at the Press Club annual gala include Michael Bloomberg, NBC’s Ann Curry, Khaled Abu Toameh of Jerusalem Post, and Matthew Winkler.
Curry will receive a lifetime achievement award, while Abu Toameh is the recipient of the 2014 Daniel Pearl Award.
This year’s Press Club gala is part of the group’s 56th Southern California Journalism Awards. For more information about the Press Club, please visit lapressclub.org.
