Charles Overby, chairman of the foundation, said Hamilton and LaLanne are separated in age by seven decades, but they share a philosophy for success that personifies free spirit.

"We always look for a young person who personifies free spirit, and her ability and willingness to get back up on that surfboard is just amazing," Overby said. "She is just an inspiration to these kids."

Brian Lamb, the founder of C-SPAN, received the 2004 Al Neuharth Free Spirit of the Year Award. It carries a stipend of $100,000 that Lamb said he would donate to education-related charities.

As a 13-year-old, while surfing on the North Shore of Kaua'i on Halloween 2003, Hamilton lost her left arm when it was severed by a 14-foot tiger shark.

After her recovery, she won fifth place in the 2004 National Surfing Championships and has qualified to compete again this year.

Hamilton said she was "honored and thankful" to be selected as a "free spirit" honoree.

"I'm definitely my own individual and my own free spirit," she said.

"I enjoy being at events like this as an overall learning experience."

Hamilton used her experience to help others overcome adversity.

She has written a book about her recovery and is working with World Vision, a not-for-profit group, to raise money for children with disabilities.

Hamilton and LaLanne were presented a stipend of $10,000 at a ceremony at Washington's National Press Club that coincided with the annual Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholarship and Conference program.

As part of the program, 102 high school seniors — including two from Hawai'i — met in Washington for a four-day journalism conference.

One hundred students received $1,000 scholarships and two were awarded $50,000 scholarships.

"It might almost be redundant that student journalists are free spirits," Overby said. "What we're trying to do is focus attention on how exciting journalism can be as a career and also how liberating journalism is."

Joshua Huff

"I've been in the District of Columbia before for journalism things, but this one is really great because they are really instilling the importance of the First Amendment," said Huff, the son of Jeffrey and Vanessa Huff of Moanalua.

He said he became interested in journalism in the 10th grade as a way to study politics.

"I saw that I could get into it around school by joining a newspaper," he said. "I did that in the 11th grade and was named managing editor at my school paper."

Krystal Choate

"It's a really, really great opportunity to see the monuments and all the historic sites and get to meet all these really important people in journalism," said Choate, the daughter of Jacqueline Ries and Roger Choate of 'Ewa Beach.

"I was really surprised I got (selected by the program) and had the opportunity to come out here."

She said she became interested in journalism during her sophomore year and plans to attend Hawai'i Pacific University to study communications.

"After I just started writing, I noticed how people actually appreciated ... writing and took notice of it," she said.