Red Smith Lecture

About the Lecture Series

During a career in journalism that spanned over a half-century, Red Smith became a prose stylist worth enduring attention. A 1927 Notre Dame graduate, Smith won a Pulitzer Prize winner for distinguished commentary as a New York Times sports columnist. He died in 1982. The next year, Notre Dame inaugurated the Red Smith Lecture in Journalism to honor Smith and his literary achievement. The Red Smith Lecture features prominent journalists and authors discussing the craft of journalism and the state of the American news media. Support for the Smith Lectureship is provided by The Marguerite and Lou Keifer Endowment for Excellence in Journalism.

Making Words Dance: Reflections on Red Smith, Journalism, and Writing is a collection of the Red Smith Lectures from 1983 through 2008 and some of Red Smith's classic columns and articles.

Past Lectures

• Carlos Lozada ’93 (2023)
• Nikole Hannah-Jones ’98 (2022)
• David A. Fahrenthold (2018)
• Hedrick Smith (2014)      
• Kathleen Parker (2012)
• Frank Deford (2010)
• Tim Russert (2008) 
• Judy Woodruff (2007)
• Ken Auletta (2005)
• Frank McCourt (2003)
• Jim Lehrer (2002)
• Ted Koppel (1999)
• David Remnick (1998)
• Georgie Anne Geyer (1995)
• Eugene L. Roberts Jr. (1994)
• Dave Kindred (1991)
• Robert Maynard (1989)
• Art Buchwald (1988)
• Charles Kuralt (1986)
• James J. Kilpatrick (1985)
• Murray Kempton (1984)
• James Reston (1983)