Actress and alumna Kerry Washington to receive Harvard’s Hasty Pudding award

By Grace Gannon

January 7, 2016

Alumna and actress Kerry Washington will receive Harvard's Hasty Pudding's Woman of the Year award later this month. Hatchet file photo by Cameron Lancaster | Contributing Photo Editor — Alumna and actress Kerry Washington will receive Harvard’s Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year award later this month. Hatchet file photo by Cameron Lancaster | Contributing Photo Editor

Star of the hit TV Show “Scandal” and alumna Kerry Washington will raise high Harvard’s Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year award later this month.

As part of the acting society’s annual tradition, Washington will be paraded around Harvard Square by male Pudding members dressed in drag (hopefully in the chic white coats Olivia Pope favors). The festivities will take place on Jan. 28, Boston Magazine reported. Washington graduated from GW in 1998 and spoke at University Commencement in 2013.

Washington will also have to handle some embarrassment as part of the celebration’s tradition includes a roast. Past Hasty Pudding honorees include actresses Meryl Streep, Halle Berry and comedian Amy Poehler.

According to Boston Magazine, Washington is only the seventh black entertainer to be honored with the award since the tradition began in 1951.

The GW Hatchet

The GW Hatchet

Actress and alumna Kerry Washington to receive Harvard’s Hasty Pudding award