The Club confers the annual Fourth Estate Award on the person who, in the judgment of the NPC Board of Governors, has achieved distinction for a lifetime of contributions to American journalism. Recommendations are made by a distinguished committee representing all branches of news media. The award is presented at a festive dinner attended by more than 300 NPC members, guests and media luminaries. The event is a fundraiser for the Club’s 501 (c) (3) National Press Club Journalism Institute which provides training for news professionals, research for journalists and other media professionals, and journalism scholarships.
| Year | Winner | Organization |
| 2012 | Bob Woodward | The Washington Post |
| 2011 | Jim Lehrer | PBS Newshour |
| 2010 | Bob Schieffer | CBS News |
| 2009 | Thomas Friedman | The New York Times |
| 2008 | Christiane Amanpour | CNN |
| 2007 | Paul E. Steiger | The Wall Street Journal |
| 2006 | Marvin Kalb | The Joan Shorenstein Center for Press and Public Policy, Harvard University |
| 2005 | Austin Kiplinger | Kiplinger Washington Editors |
| 2004 | William J. Raspberry | Washington Post Writers Group |
| 2003 | Tom Brokaw | NBC Nightly News |
| 2002 | Brian Lamb | C-SPAN |
| 2001 | Robert D. Novak | Syndicated Columnist |
| 2000 | Jack W. Germond | The Baltimore Sun |
| 1999 | Carl T. Rowan | Syndicated Columnist |
| 1998 | Mary McGrory | The Washington Post |
| 1997 | James M. Perry | The Wall Street Journal |
| 1996 | Charles R. McDowell | The Richmond Times-Dispatch |
| 1995 | Shirley Povich | The Washington Post |
| 1994 | Charles Kuralt | CBS News |
| 1993 | Eugene Roberts | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| 1992 | George Tames | The New York Times |
| 1991 | Peter Arnett | Cable News Network |
| 1990 | Mike Royko | Chicago Tribune |
| 1989 | Russell Baker | The New York Times |
| 1988 | David S. Broder | The Washington Post |
| 1987 | David Brinkley | ABC News |
| 1986 | Art Buchwald | Syndicated Columnist |
| 1985 | Flora Lewis | The New York Times |
| 1984 | Helen Thomas | United Press International |
| 1983 | Eric Sevareid | CBS News |
| 1982 | Simeon S. Booker | Johnson Publishing Company Inc. |
| 1981 | Nick B. Williams | Los Angeles Times |
| 1980 | Theodore H. White | Author |
| 1979 | Clayton Kirkpatrick | Chicago Tribune |
| 1978 | Vermont Royster | The Wall Street Journal |
| 1977 | Herbert Block | The Washington Post |
| 1976 | John S. Knight | Knight-Ridder Newspapers |
| 1975 | Richard Strout | The Christian Science Monitor and New Republic |
| 1974 | James Reston | The New York Times |
| 1973 | Walter Cronkite | CBS News |