AU's Wright wins Georgia Press Association award
Staff report
Augusta University’s Liz Wright has won a state journalism award, according to the Georgia Press Association.
Wright, a rising senior communication major, won the GPA’s Emerging Journalist Award. She received the award at the 136th annual GPA conference at Jekyll Island on Saturday, June 10.
Wright served as news editor of the Bell Ringer during the 2022-23 academic year and is a reporter for The Augusta Press.
At The Augusta Press, Wright has covered education and helps edit the website.
“I was incredibly shocked when I found out, and I am so honored to represent Augusta University and The Augusta Press with such a prestigious award,” Wright said. “When I was first nominated, I didn’t think I would win because I’m still so new to the field, but it was a happy surprise to know I was selected among so many other journalists.”
Her Press editor, Debbie van Tuyll ( AU communication professor emerita), says that Wright, at 22, is already showing the polish of a reporter with far more experience.
“Liz works to a very high standard of quality journalism, and she does so with an eye to the ethics of each different situation,” van Tuyll said. “She has earned our trust through her good work, and we look forward to having her as part of our staff for a long time to come.”
Perhaps her most challenging story came in the fall when she covered the aftermath of a suicide of a newly elected member of the Richmond County Board of Education.
“She did not do the initial story on the suicide, but that night, she was covering the school board meeting when a woman burst into the chamber and accused board members of complicity in the candidate’s death,” van Tuyll said. “The woman was ushered out by security, and Liz followed and tried to interview her. Security prohibited her from talking with the woman, and Liz kept her editors apprised of how the situation was developing until someone drove the woman away.
“Then Liz not only wrote the meeting story but also a personal column that described her personal conflict in covering the story—her older brother committed suicide a few years ago—and how she put aside her personal feelings to cover the story objectively and professionally. Few 22-year-olds are mature enough or have enough poise to act similarly in similar situations.”
Wright, who did an internship for The Augusta Press before being hired full-time, spoke about the ethics involved in this story on a journalism panel at the Georgia Communication Association annual conference at AU in February.
“When I first changed my major to communication a little over a year ago, I was very nervous, because I wasn't sure if I would be any good at it,” Wright said. “I owe a lot of my success to my professors who encouraged me to pursue it and continue learning with every new opportunity: (Bell Ringer adviser) Rachel Balducci, Professor Amber Routh, Dr. Van Tuyll and Dr. David Bulla all had a tremendous hand in helping me grow within my field and teaching me what it means to be a journalist. I'm so glad I trusted my gut and chose to make a career out of something I love; every day I wake up excited to work and tell the stories of others, and it is such a privilege.”
Bulla, the chair of the Department of Communication at AU, spoke about Wright’s passion for reporting and writing.
“I was lucky enough to have Liz in a media history class, and it was clear that she not only cared about the news, but she also wanted to understand why certain things happen,” Bulla said. “She wrote a wonderful paper in that class comparing and contrasting abolitionist editors Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. The research was excellent, as was the writing, so much so that she won an American Journalism Historians Association regional conference award for that paper. Accordingly, I was not surprised to hear she won this award from GPA. I think she has a bright future ahead of her in journalism.”
