The Daily Californian will be honoring distinguished alumni at the Alumnus of the Year and Hall of Fame event on Saturday, April 26, 2025 from 4-7 p.m. at the Berkeley School of Journalism, North Gate Hall and Courtyard.

We'll also have a special guest: UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons!

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the Daily Californian Alumnus of the Year award is Carolyn Jones, '92. Jones is the K-12 education reporter at CalMatters, where she’s written about how culture wars play out in schools, the challenges facing Native American students, lack of funds for rural school repair, the revolution in school meals and other topics. Jones was the editor-in-chief at the Daily Cal in 1989-90. At the Daily Cal, she learned how journalism can connect people, improve communities, and hold authorities accountable. She made a lot of mistakes, made some lifelong friends (and one or two enemies), and never missed an Ink Bowl! The Daily Californian Friend of the Year is Manish Gupta. Manish is the father of former editor-in-chief Kavya Gupta. He volunteered as the Daily Cal tech manager when the Daily Cal was migrating website hosts in 2023-24 and kept the website functional during crucial times.

And we are also pleased to announce the newest inductees into the Daily Californian Hall of Fame:

Bill Boyarsky, '56, was a sportswriter for the Daily Cal in 1952-53. He went professional in 1953, starting as a copy messenger at the Oakland Tribune before moving up to the night police beat. He worked for the Associated Press for ten years as California political writer. In 1970, he was hired by the Los Angeles Times, where he worked as political writer, city-county bureau chief, a featured columnist, and finally city editor. At the Times, he was part of teams that won three Pulitzer Prizes. He retired in 2001 and continued with several other publications,
including Truthdig. He is the author of seven books, including The Rise of Ronald Reagan and Big Daddy, a biography of Jesse Unruh. He is currently writing a political biography of Jessica Mitford and Bob Treuhaft for UC Press. He also appears on the weekly podcast, Inside
Golden State Politics, with Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.
Ellen Nakashima, '84, is a national security reporter for The Washington Post. She covers intelligence and national security issues. She has written about the security aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, the west's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and classified intelligence leaks. She has been a member of three Pulitzer-prize winning teams at The Post, including in 2022 for an investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, in 2018 for digging into Moscow’s efforts to influence the 2016 election, and in 2014 for exploring the hidden scope National Security Agency surveillance. Nakashima received the Daily Californian’s Alumnus of the Year award in 2017.
Maggie Higgins, '41 (posthumous), began her reporting career at the Daily Cal, where she covered topics ranging from theater to the Mexican Revolution to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC and worked as an editor in the night department. During WWII, Higgins reported from the front lines, and was one of the first two Americans to reach Dachau, arriving before Allied troops on their way to liberate the camp. Higgins went on to report on the liberation of Buchenwald and the Nuremberg trials. In 1950, Higgins was appointed to serve as chief of the Tribune’s Tokyo bureau, where she would win the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for her Korean War coverage--the first woman to receive the award for Foreign Correspondence. She died in 1966 at the age of 45.
Rube Goldberg, ‘04 (posthumous) earned an engineering degree from Berkeley in 1904. A Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist, inventor, and innovator, he has the distinction of being the only person whose name is listed as an adjective in the Merriam Webster Dictionary: "Accomplishing by complex means what seemingly could be done simply." Goldberg won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1948 for a cartoon titled "Peace Today" depicting an atomic bomb teetering on the edge of a cliff. The Rube Goldberg Institute for Innovation & Creativity continues his legacy through Rube Goldberg competitions, exhibitions, and STEM and arts education programs.

Hors d'oeuvres, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages will be served

Reception and music 4-5 pm

Awards program 5-6 pm

Berkeley School of Journalism, North Gate Hall and Courtyard

2025 Daily Californian Hall of Fame and Alumni of the Year Event, Saturday, April 26, 2025, 4-7 p.m.

With Special Guest Chancellor Rich Lyons

Team Members