University of Illinois journalism alumni have won Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting, Emmy Awards and nominations for their news coverage, and other awards and honors for their books.
They work at major publications, news and radio stations, online news media, nonprofits, tech companies, government agencies, environmental services, and many other industries.
Just a few of our notable journalism alumni include:
Bill Geist
Retired Emmy Award-winning correspondent and commentator for CBS Sunday Morning, author, and humorist
Jill Wine-Banks
MSNBC legal analyst, author, and podcast co-host; she was one of the three Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutors, and the only woman, for the obstruction of justice trial against President Nixon’s top aides
Taylor Rooks
Sports Emmy-nominated sports journalist and broadcaster with Bleacher Report, NBA on TNT, and Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football
Dan Balz
Chief correspondent at The Washington Post, New York Times-bestselling author, regular panelist on PBS’s Washington Week
Judy Hsu
Emmy Award-winning anchor on ABC 7 Chicago
Eli Murray
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and graphics editor at The New York Times
David McCraw
Deputy general counsel of The New York Times, author of Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts, for which he won a Hugh M. Hefner Foundation First Amendment Award
Steve Osunsami
Emmy Award-winning senior national correspondent at ABC News
Emily Siner
Edward R. Murrow Award winner, editor of Peabody Award-winning podcast The Promise, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, past Fulbright Scholar
Sean Evans
Emmy Award-nominated, Streamy Award, Shorty Award, and Webby Award winner of Hot Ones
Bob Epstein
Peabody and Emmy Award-winning news executive, consulting executive producer for Scripps News coverage of the 2024 election, former senior broadcast producer of The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and producer of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
Leonora LaPeter Anton
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, formerly at Tampa Bay Times, and podcast host
The late Roger Ebert
Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, co-host of Siskel & Ebert, author of 20+ books, and founder of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
The late Iris Chang
Author of New York Times bestseller The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, won the MacArthur Foundation’s Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award and the Woman of the Year Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans
The late James Brady
Former White House Press Secretary for President Ronald Reagan, gun control advocate, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (“Brady Bill”) was named in his honor