Andrea Bruce honored by Center for Community News

Andrea Bruce, the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at Grady College, has been named a Faculty Champion by The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont.  

On Feb. 3, the CCN at the University of Vermont announced Bruce and 149 other journalism leaders would be inducted into the 2026 Faculty Champions program’s third annual class. The News Champions program “recognizes and supports journalism leaders who build partnerships between newsrooms and college reporting programs,” according to their website. 

“At the core of all of these university-led student reporting programs are innovative and entrepreneurial faculty committed to student success,” said CCN Director Richard Watts. “These programs are a win-win for everyone: students receive high-impact experiences and communities benefit from more reliable news.” 

The honor comes with several resources to support the recipients. Each Faculty Champion receives a $1,000 reward, peer support and coaching throughout the year-long program led by Champion alumni. Participants will work in cohorts organized around beats, communities and geographic regions to support local journalism and alleviate news desserts.  

Part of the reason Bruce was selected for the program is her involvement in sending students to visually cover state government. As Knight Chair, Bruce is funding one student, the Capitol Beat Visual Scholar, Ashtin Barker, to cover the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia State Capitol, one that has lacked visual storytelling.  

“So far, they’ve been a wire service only with words,” said Bruce. “Through the Knight Foundation and the Georgia Press Association, we are funding a student to photograph the stories around the State House so that Georgia publications can have access to visuals.” 

The visual coverage, Bruce hopes, will allow newspapers and local publications to run more stories that help illustrate government issues more clearly. 

“They help bring people closer to what’s happening in this building — a building that can sometimes feel intimidating,” Bruce said. “They give a better understanding to the topics that are happening at the state house level. Getting people more involved — getting more people to pay attention to our local politics — is definitely part of the answer to strengthening our democracy.”  

Bruce also plans to offer a new capstone class in the fall semester for students to continue finding out how to fix holes in new coverage.   

“I’m teaching a class in which students will create their own visual-first publication,” Bruce said. “They will research news holes that exist here, even in Athens, and best create a source of information to help alleviate those holes or to create better journalism for the need that exists.”  

While Bruce said it was “wonderful” to receive the honor, she was excited to be a part of the growing network of like-minded faculty.  

“We’re all kind of in this together,” Bruce said. “To be a part of a cohort of people who are all trying to do similar things with bringing together local news, community news and education— and the more we strengthen local news, the more jobs our students will have.”  

Bruce was encouraged to apply by Amanda Bright, director of the Journalism Innovation Lab for the Cox Institute and consultant for the Faculty Champions program, because of her decades of experience in photography and publication.  

“My job is to dive into visual journalism and all of its forms, especially entrepreneurially,” Bruce said. “Not many will be able to find jobs at publications like the New York Times right away. I want to make sure students know how to apply for grants and have alternate ways of supporting themselves with the reporting and visual skills they have learned here at Grady.” 

Bruce brings to Grady over 30 years of visual storytelling experience from publications like National Geographic and The New York Times, and as the publisher and creator of the visual-first publication Down in the County in Pamlico County, North Carolina.  

She plans to bring lessons about starting a publication to students, ranging from managing money to providing ethical storytelling to local communities.  

“This is a beautiful collaboration with CCN and all of the organizations involved — working together to keep journalism alive and well,” Bruce said.  

Author: Sam Tupper, samuel.tupper@uga.edu