Du Cille died Dec. 11, 2014, of an apparent heart attack at the age of 58 while he was in Liberia on an assignment for the Washington Post.
The Benton Medallion is awarded to at least one individual every year since 1986, according to the release.
The Benton Medallion
honors those who have given outstanding service and support to the University and who epitomize the values of
the University and the international academic community as a whole, according to the release.
IU President Michael McRobbie will present the medal to du Cille’s wife, Nikki Kahn, during a banquet in Presidents Hall, located in Franklin Hall, the future home of the Media School.
Kahn is currently a photojournalist for the Washington Post.
“Michel du Cille’s work is an outstanding example of the good that can come from focusing on communication in visual form,” James Shanahan, dean of the Media School, said in the release. “We’re delighted that we have this opportunity to recognize his work, tempered by the sadness that very many in this school will be missing a valued friend and colleague.”
Du Cille graduated from IU in 1985.
Following graduation, he went to work as a photojournalist for the Miami Herald and the Post. He won his first Pulitzer Prize at the Herald, sharing the spot news photography prize for coverage of the 1985 eruption of a Colombian volcano.
His second Pulitzer, also won while at the Herald, was for his photo essay of crack addicts in a Miami housing project, according to the release.
In 1988, du Cille joined the Washington Post as picture editor, and he eventually became head of the Post’s photojournalism staff.
With the assistance of du Cille, the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2008 for coverage of the treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Du Cille worked on the series with reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull. Their stories led to changes in the government’s care of injured veterans, according to the release.
Prior to his death, du Cille kept in regular correspondence with IU faculty and staff. There were plans for du Cille to return to Bloomington as a guest speaker in IU journalism professor of practice Tom French’s J360: Behind the Prize class last spring.
Du Cille was a member of the former IU School of Journalism’s first class of distinguished alumni in 2011, according to the release.
Multiple IU journalism faculty and alumni traveled to Washington, D.C., in January to pay tribute to du Cille during a celebration of his life that took place at the Newseum.
Six other alumni, including award-winning news reporters, producers, photographers and educators, will be honored as distinguished alumni in journalism at the event, according to the release.
The evening will begin with a reception, followed by dinner and presentation of the awards, which will include video tributes to the honorees’ careers.
Alyson Malinger
