Katie Couric

CBS Evening News Anchor and Managing Editor Katie Couric, today received the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign. The award was given at USC's Annenberg School of Communication in Los Angeles by Geneva Overholser, Director of the Annenberg School of Journalism.

Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric, during her debut broadcast from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006. "Hi, everyone. I'm very happy to be with you tonight," said Couric, the first woman to solo as anchor of a network evening news show.

Katie Couric, departing NBC "Today" show co-host, sheds a tear during her final show, Wednesday, May 31, 2006. At the end of three hours of farewell tributes, she raised a glass of champagne and said, "To everyone in TV land, thanks so much." Couric becomes anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" in September.

Matt Lauer has to sit back as Katie Couric, left, his departing co-host of NBC's "Today" show, gets a goodbye kiss from news anchor Ann Curry during Couric's final show, in New York, May 31, 2006. The final send-off included a serenade from Tony Bennett, songs from Martina McBride and the cast of the "Jersey Boys" and a fashion and hair retrospective from Joan Rivers.

Matt Lauer, center, introduces Lillian Satlof, 4 1/2 years old from Avon, Conn., chosen as Katie Couric's biggest fan, who presents her with flowers during a segment of Couric's final NBC "Today" show in New York, Wednesday, May 31, 2006. Couric is leaving to become the next anchor of the CBS Evening News.

Katie Couric is joining CBS News, it was announced April 5, 2006, by Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation, and Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. Couric will become anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" beginning in September. Couric also will contribute to "60 Minutes." Couric becomes the first female solo anchor of a network evening news broadcast.

Says Couric, "It has been a great privilege to be one of the caretakers of a television institution like the 'Today' show for 15 years. Joining CBS is a unique opportunity that came at the right time for me. I'm thrilled to become part of the rich tradition of CBS News and look forward to working with the many extraordinarily talented people there." Here, she arrives April 3, 2006, at the Matrix Awards in New York.

Here, Katie Couric testifies about colon cancer screenings before a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging March 6, 2000, on Capitol Hill. Couric's husband, lawyer and television commentator Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998. He was 42.

Couric holds her Wow Woman Award at the Glamour Magazine Women of the Year 2002 show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York Oct. 28, 2002. In March 2000, she helped launch the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA) in an effort to end the threat of colon cancer through education and to encourage preventive testing and new medical research.

Couric attends the UNICEF Goodwill Gala: 50 Years of Celebrity Advocacy event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Dec. 3, 2003, in Beverly Hills, Calif., where she was honored with the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award. In May 2001, she received a Peabody Award for her on-air series "Confronting Colon Cancer" during which she underwent a colonoscopy on camera to demystify the procedure for viewers.

On March 10, 2004, as a co-founder of National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA), Couric introduced a T-shirt, designed by Joie and sponsored by Bloomingdales, to help fight colon cancer.

Katie Couric, Mary Steenburgen, Peggy Northrop, and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) pose for a photo during the 2nd Annual More Alpha Woman Award ceremony at The Four Seasons restaurant April 26, 2004, in New York City.

On June 26, 2004, Couric was one of the honorees at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. Among other honors, Couric has won six Emmys, a National Headliner Award, an Associated Press Award, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. She also holds the Julius B. Richmond Award from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Katie Couric and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attend a press conference to launch the "Be Seen, Be Screened" campaign, unveiling items that were auctioned during the Olympus Fashion Week Spring 2005 Sept. 8, 2004, in New York City.

Couric and Robin Williams arrive at a benefit Nov. 13, 2004, for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. In addition, Couric helps raise funds for the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, named for her late husband and established with the goal to make dealing with the difficult diagnosis of GI cancers less traumatic for patients and their families.

Couric arrives at the 27th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala Dec. 5, 2004, in Washington, DC. In the course of career, Couric has interviewed world leaders, newsmakers, and people in all branches of the arts. An impromptu interview with then-President George H.W. Bush in 1993 made headlines, coming as it did in the middle of a White House tour that was being conducted by first lady Barbara Bush.

Katie Couric became a co-anchor of "Today" on April 5, 1991. Here, she and co-anchor Matt Lauer (who joined her as a co-anchor in 1997) are shown on the program, interviewing musical guest Jimmy Buffett, June 25, 2004. Couric began her work on "Today" as its first national correspondent in June 1990.

Katie Couric and "Today" colleagues Al Roker and Ann Curry arrive at the T.J. Martell Foundation 30th Anniversary Gala Oct. 6, 2005, in New York City. All three worked together as part of the "Today" team for nearly 10 years.

Couric arrives at the "Hollywood Meets Motown" benefit, presented by herself and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, March 15, 2006, in New York City.

Couric and Beyonce Knowles pose for photographers at the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance evening on board the Queen Mary 2, April 24, 2004, in New York.