'This Week' Wins 2009 Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism

March 10, 2009 — -- ABC News "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" is a winner of the USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Television Political Journalism, the USC Annenberg School for Communications announced this morning.

For the second time in a row, "This Week" is being recognized for its On the Trail series, which took host George Stephanopoulos out of the studio and onto the campaign trail to interview the 2008 presidential candidates.

Over the course of two years, Stephanopoulos traveled to the hotly contested early primary and caucus states, the conventions, and the contenders' home states to spend time with the campaigns – some more than once – for more than fourteen distinct candidate interviews.

Unique to the Sunday morning discussion program, the "On the Trail" series included interviews with then Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator and Mrs. Christopher Dodd, former Senator John Edwards, former Senator Mike Gravel, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Governor Mike Huckabee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Senator John McCain, then Senator Barack Obama, Rep. Ron Paul, Gov. Bill Richardson, former Governor and Mrs. Mitt Romney, and former Sen. Fred Thompson.

"This Week" previously won the Cronkite Award for its On the Trail segments focused on the 2006 Midterm elections.

The 2009 Cronkite Awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 15 at the USC Campus in Los Angeles.

Ian Cameron is the executive producer of "This Week" and George Stephanopoulos is the anchor. The program airs Sundays on the ABC Television Network.

-ABC-

ABC News Media Relations:Emily Lenzner (202) 222-6896 / Emily.A.Lenzner@abc.com