CNN anchor Anderson Cooper to receive Walter Cronkite Award

PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona State University is awarding its 2018 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

He will receive the award on Oct. 17 in Phoenix from the university's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

According to a statement issued by ASU officials Monday, Cooper says he's honored and humbled to receive the award because Cronkite "sparked my interest in journalism at a young age."

Cooper has been with CNN since 2001. He also has been a regular contributor to "60 Minutes" on CBS since 2006.

The 34 previous Cronkite Award winners are Bob Woodward, Tom Brokaw, Al Michaels, Scott Pelley, Diane Sawyer, Judy Woodruff and Helen Thomas.

ASU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication was named in Cronkite's honor in 1984.

The famed CBS News anchor died in 2009.