American Academy Of Diplomacy

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION - AAD presents annually the Walter & Leonore Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy, two Arthur Ross Media Awards for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs, and the Douglas Dillon Book Award for a Book of Distinction on the Practice of American Diplomacy to individuals in recognition of their significant contributions to the field of diplomacy. In 2023, AAD also added a new annual award the Henrietta Fore Award for Excellence in Development, which recognizes an individual or a group who has made exemplary contributions to the field of development, either as a US Government official or in support of American developmental work. In 2024, Academy member Ambassador Charles E. Cobb transferred the management of the Ambassador Charles E. Cobb Award Fund to the Academy. While the Cobb Award itself is selected and presented annually by the U.S. Department of State, the Academy manages and provides the funds for this award, and several select members of the Academy are involved in the review and selection of the award recipient.

Publications: AADs most recent publication is the Blueprint 2: Professional Education and Training, which is a chapter in the 2022 Report by Marc Grossman and Marcie Ries titled Blueprints for a More Modern US Diplomatic Service. The report as a whole, published by Arizona State University, offers an actionable guide for producing operationally significant change in the ways the United States organizes and executes its diplomacy. More specifically, Blueprint 2, written by AAD, develops concrete measures necessary to increase the professional capacities of U.S. diplomats by expanding opportunities for professional education and training. Other recent publications include Bringing Americas Multilateral Diplomacy into the 21st Century (2022), which proposes recommendations for bringing U.S. multilateral diplomacy into the mainstream of policymaking, diplomatic practice, and diplomatic training in order to deal effectively with the pressing international challenges;Changing the Risk Paradigm for U.S. Diplomats (2021), which offers the State Department a set of recommendations for addressing the growing risk aversion at its overseas missions, including the legislative change of the Accountability Review Boards; and Strengthening the Department of State (2019), which offers recommendations for how to enhance the structures and processes of the State Department.