Tim White Award

The Timothy White Award recognizes exemplary leadership in the face of challenges and pressures that editors face daily. It is given to an editor whose work displays extraordinary courage, integrity, and passion. This award is named after the longtime editor of Billboard who served as the moral compass of the music industry by tackling controversial issues before he passed away in 2002.

Entry requirements

• Essay that details the editor's activities over the past two years, showcasing their exemplary editorial integrity. (1,000 word limit)
• One example of the outstanding work created. (PDF)
• A copy of the editor’s publication (digital version)

About the Award

The Timothy White Award was established to acknowledge the daily challenges and pressures that editors face. Named after the longtime editor of Billboard magazine, who passed away in June 2002, the award is given to an editor whose work displays courage, integrity and passion.

Recipients of the Timothy White Award serve as the conscience of their publication and fearlessly support important industry causes. They stand up to outside pressures - whether from advertisers, industry executives or upper management - that threaten to interfere with the goal of placing readers first and maintaining independent, honest and ethical journalism.

Adamant that Billboard cover not only the most acclaimed or famous artists, White regularly wrote about unsung performers in his column, "Music to My Ears," and was an outspoken advocate of artists' rights. He often served as the music industry's moral compass by tackling controversial issues.

He started his career as a copyboy and sports and entertainment writer for the Associated Press in 1972, after graduating from Fordham University. He was managing editor and then senior editor of seminal music magazine Crawdaddy from 1976 to 1978. He served as associate editor and later senior editor at Rolling Stone from 1978 to 1982, where he interviewed such legends as Johnny Carson and Mike Wallace.

White authored several books, including Catch a Fire, an award-winning biography of Bob Marley, and acclaimed biographies on the Beach Boys (The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience) and James Taylor (Long Ago and Far Away: James Taylor, His Life and Music), as well as a collection of Billboard essays titled "Music to My Ears." He was awarded four prestigious ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for his book Rock Lives: Profiles & Interviews, for his "Music to My Ears" columns, for his 1993 Century Award Portrait of the Artist profile of George Harrison and for his editing of Billboard's series on work for hire and musical copyrights.

He was also host and co-producer of "Timothy White's Rock Stars/The Timothy White Sessions," an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio series.

Past Winners