The awards were established in 1942 and administered until 1967 by Washington and Lee University's O. W. Riegel, Curator and Head of the Department of Journalism and Communications.

The duPont-Columbia Awards were established by Jessie Ball duPont in memory of her husband Alfred I. du Pont.

Award winners receive batons in gold and silver designed by the American architect Louis I. Kahn.

In 2010, the first award for digital reporting was given to MediaStorm and photographer Jonathan Torgovnik for "Intended Consequences" about children born of rape in Rwanda.

In 2012, the first-ever theatrically released documentary film was honored by the duPont jury: the Oscar-nominated Hell and Back Again, about the war in Afghanistan and the struggles facing veterans when they return home.