2026 PRIZE OF EXCELLENCE AWARDEE

Margaret Brennan is moderator of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on CBS. Based in Washington, D.C., Brennan is also the Network's chief foreign affairs correspondent and a contributing correspondent to 60 Minutes.

Brennan became moderator of "Face the Nation" in February 2018 and quickly became known for her tough but fair questioning of world leaders, politicians, and policymakers. She brings to her coverage of domestic politics a background in national security and financial news.

World leaders including Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Mike Pence, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan have been interviewed on the program by Brennan, along with Republican and Democratic leaders. In January 2025, Brennan had the first interview with Vice President JD Vance since taking office as vice president. In October 2024, Brennan co-moderated the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. 

As the second woman to host the venerable CBS News broadcast, Brennan has continued the "Face the Nation" legacy as America's premier Sunday morning public affairs program and helped propel it to become the most watched in its category for six consecutive years, beginning with the 2020-2021 television season.

In 2023, the broadcast was recognized with a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in TV Political Journalism, citing Brennan's moderating approach as "measured, completely consistent, researched and prepared." In 2021, "Face the Nation" won first place in the National Headliner Awards category for broadcast and cable coverage of a continuing news event for its pandemic coverage, with the judges noting "this coverage was exactly what the country needed at the time." In 2020, "Face the Nation" also earned a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communications Council for its 2019 feature on bipartisanship with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). Brennan won an Emmy Award as part of CBS News' "39 Days" documentary about the Parkland school shooting. 

Brennan was the recipient of a “Transatlantic Bridge Award” in 2025 for her help strengthening the EU-US transatlantic relationship. She was recognized in 2023 with Multichannel News' annual "Woman of Influence" award.

Brennan's "Face the Nation" interviews with leaders, scientists, and newsmakers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic earned the broadcast two 2021 Emmy Award nominations: the first for outstanding news analysis, and the second for coverage of the tension between the U.S. and Iran. The broadcast also received two Emmy nominations in 2022 for its coverage of the collapse of Afghanistan as the Taliban took over and for Brennan's exclusive interview with Dr. Deborah Birx, White House COVID-19 Response Task Force Coordinator under President Trump, in which she detailed the challenges and pitfalls of the role under that administration. Brennan's interview with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy-during which he blamed Democrats for the near-government shutdown, a moment that played a role in his ouster two days later-was nominated for a 2024 Emmy Award. Most recently, "Face the Nation" earned another Emmy nomination in 2025 for the program's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

 She joined CBS News in 2012 and has held roles including State Department and White House correspondent. Brennan has broken multiple stories, including the news that members of the Trump Cabinet discussed invoking the 25th Amendment following the January 6th siege of the U.S. Capitol. She has covered historic moments such as the accord to transfer control of Syria's chemical weapons; the War with Iran; restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba; the standoff with North Korea; the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan; and the conflict in Ukraine.

Brennan is a board member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a board member and Center Scholar for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Brennan is also a member of the Gridiron Club.

Brennan graduated with highest distinction from the University of Virginia in 2002, where she earned a bachelor's degree in foreign affairs and Middle East studies with a minor in Arabic. As a Fulbright-Hays Scholar, she studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan.