Scott Simon

Scott Simon is one of America’s most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and one of the hosts of NPR’s morning news podcast Up First. He has reported on all fifty states, five continents and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo, through Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have been the chronicle of characters and characters, in war and peace, sport and art, tragedy and comedy. Weekend Edition Saturday has been called by the Washington Post as “the most literary, witty, moving, and simply interesting news program on any dial,” and by Time Out New York’s Brett Martin as “the most eclectic and intelligent two hours of broadcast on the airwaves.” Simon has won every major award in broadcasting, including the Peabody, Emmy, Columbia-DuPont, Ohio State Award, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and Sidney Hillman Award. He received the End of Hunger Presidential Award for his coverage of the civil war and famine in Ethiopia, and a special mention from the Peabody Awards for his weekly essays, which were cited as “consistently thoughtful, elegant, and challenging.” He is also the recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Award from the Human Rights Fund. Recently, he has been awarded the Studs Terkel prize. Simon has hosted many television specials, including PBS’s “State of Mind,” “Voices of Vision,” and “Need to Know.” “The Paterson Project” won a national Emmy, as did its two-hour special about the Earth Summit meeting in Rio. He co-hosted PBS’s “Millennium 2000” coverage in concert with the BBC, and has co-hosted the televised Columbia-DuPont Awards. He also became familiar to viewers in Britain as the host of the BBC’s continuing series, “Eyewitness,” and a special on the White House press corps. He has appeared as a guest and commentator on major networks, including the BBC, NBC, CNN, and ESPN. Simon has contributed articles to The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times of London, The Guardian, and Gourmet, among other publications, and won a James Beard Award for his article “Conflict Cuisine” in Gourmet. He has received numerous honorary degrees.