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Hill Talk: Sewall-Belmont House to Honor Katie Couric

The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum on Capitol Hill will present Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor for CBS Evening News, with an award this afternoon in honor of the late Alice Paul, a devoted suffragist, human rights activist and founder of the National Woman’s Party. Paul resided in the house for 40 years.

Couric was selected for the annual honor not only for her role as the first woman to become a solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast, but also for her dedication to colon cancer research and screening. Couric helped launch the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance in 2000 after losing her husband to colon cancer in 1998.

Development Manager Lauren Uranga said Couric had been on the museum’s radar since she took her position at CBS in 2006.

“We look for women who are setting new precedents and breaking barriers,” Uranga said.

Past Alice Award honorees include Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.); journalists Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer; Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore; former tennis star Billie Jean King; and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

About 250 people — mainly donors — are expected to attend the program and luncheon, which beings at noon. Barbara Harrison, friend of Couric’s and anchor for NBC4, will lead the ceremonies; receptions for VIPs and general attendees will precede the program.

The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum is a national historic landmark that offers educational programs and special exhibits throughout the year in honor of the women’s suffrage movement. It is located at the corner of Constitution Avenue and Second Street Northeast next to the Hart Senate Office Building.

— Melissa Attias

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