The award was presented Nov. 7 at the 21st anniversary dinner celebration of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism held at the Sheraton New York in midtown Manhattan. A mid-career study program, the Bagehot Fellowship was founded in 1975 by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism to address the problem of deficiencies in business news coverage. As many as ten professional journalists are selected each year to study for two semesters at Columbia's schools of business, law, international affairs and journalism.
Fellows receive full tuition and a living-expenses stipend.
A distinguished panel of business journalists selected The Wall Street Journal 's three page-one articles reported and written by Craig Torres on the Mexican banking system. The series laid out the depth of the Mexican banking crisis and had a broad impact on international investors and bankers because Torres pointed out not only the fragility of the banking system but also the lack of legal recourse when loans or bonds run into problems. Torres was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow during the 1989 academic year. The deadline for applications is March 1, 1997.