NEW: Jim Lehrer to be honored with inaugural OU Gaylord Prize

Norman Transcript - Norman,OK,USA - Journalist Jim Lehrer, executive editor and anchor for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," is the inaugural recipient of the Gaylord Prize, established by the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication to honor a nationally recognized journalist with high standards of excellence.

Lehrer, an Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning journalist, has been chosen to moderate the presidential and vice presidential debates for the past five elections and will again host the first presidential debate on Sept. 26.

"We are grateful to the Gaylord family for endowing this prize of national importance and designating the University of Oklahoma to award it," OU President David Boren said. "There could not be a more appropriate first recipient of the award then Jim Lehrer. No journalist in America is more respected or sets higher standards than he does."