Washington, DC – The Phillips Foundation announced the recipients of the 2010 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program, which included Bill McMorris, a staff researcher and writer at the Franklin Center for Government and Public integrity. The Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program awards grants to working print and online journalists to undertake and complete projects of their own choosing, focusing on journalism supportive of American culture and a free society.

“Bill is a talented reporter who has proven to produce quality, unbiased, and accurate journalistic pieces. Bill’s terrific work on the phantom congressional district story was the driving force behind breaking that story to the mainstream media” said Jason Stverak President of the Franklin Center. “This award is a great accomplishment for Bill and we at Franklin Center are proud to have him on our staff.”

Bill McMorris’s fellowship title is “Fraud by any Other Name: Public Pension Neglect and the Coming Panic.”

McMorris is currently a staff researcher and writer at the Franklin Center. A print journalist by training, he has written for the Santa Barbara News-Press, National Review Online and the National Journalism Center. While in Santa Barbara, Mr. McMorris produced a wide range of investigative work. His on-site coverage of a November 2008 wildfire revealed that the city had lost nearly ten times more homes than the fire department initially told the public. He also investigated charges of power abuse against the city’s police chief, as well as pay increases at the District Attorney’s Office following a series of lay-offs. McMorris was educated at Cornell University where he majored in government and history.

The Phillips Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 to advance the cause of objective journalism. The Foundation established its journalism fellowship program to provide annual grants for journalism projects supportive of American culture and a free society. The fellowship program is open to print and online journalists with less than 10 years of professional experience. The Foundation seeks applicants who share its mission to advance constitutional principles, a democratic society, and a vibrant free enterprise system.

The Foundation awards $75,000 and $50,000 full-time fellowships and $25,000 part-time fellowships. The winners devote themselves to a yearlong writing project which they propose as part of their application.

About The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Franklin Center is a non-profit group dedicated to providing investigative reporters and non-profit organizations at the state and local level with the training, expertise and technical support necessary to pursue journalistic endeavors. By networking with state-based think tanks, local non-profits, and independent Watchdog reporters across the country, the Franklin Center works against the growing tide of mediocrity and bias in the media and punditry of alternative online sources.  The Franklin Center undertakes programs that promote investigative reporting and the education of the public about corruption, incompetence and abuse of public trust by elected officials. The Franklin Center is also a proud sponsor of Watchdog.org and Statehouse News Bureaus.