Griffiths Innovators receive third place, fan favorite in competition

Three Grady College journalism students in the Griffiths Innovators program received third place nationwide and earned the fan favorite award at a national competition through the Reynolds Journalism Institute on April 30, 2026. 

Shad McMillan, Makenna Reavis and Maura Potvin, in partnership with WSB-TV, developed an asynchronous online program called Bridge to train social media influencers (referring to them as “newsfluencers”) in journalistic ethics to close the gap between local newsrooms and younger audiences. 

The program acts as a mutually beneficial way for local newsrooms and influencers to expand their content coverage and boost engagement for both parties. 

“We wanted to create a program that would act as the middleman between newsrooms and influencers so they could learn to work together as partners instead of either entity changing to be more like the other,” said McMillan. 

The Innovators presented their project on a video call to RJI. The presentation included explanations of the programs used to develop the website, training system and influencer contact methods. The team also discussed feedback received from influencers and a plan to scale the project for future Griffiths Innovators. 

McMillan had a part in planning, drafting, communicating, web designing and implementing processes for Bridge. He said learning about their third placement from RJI was amazing.

“When we initially got the email that we had placed, I immediately ran to our group chat to celebrate,” he said. “I’m so glad that the judges saw the same value in our project that we did.” 

The fan favorite award was “an even bigger shocker,” McMillan said. 

“It’s amazing to know that consumers connected with our project so much,” he said. “This program is inevitably about providing for consumers, and for them to have an appreciation for our project, above all of the other amazing projects, is just incredible.” 

Amanda Bright, director of the Journalism Innovation Lab, emphasized the difficulty of this year’s RJI prompt and was impressed by the team’s final product. 

“Although news organizations see the power and engagement of content creators and influencers, they are wary,” said Bright. “Our Griffiths Innovators team created a clear, practical solution to this problem, which is what innovation is all about — seeing a meaningful way through an obstacle. I am incredibly proud of their idea, its execution and how well it was received by key people in our industry.” 

Bridge still exists as a program and will potentially continue under the next class of Griffiths Innovators. McMillan hopes to take the lessons he learned about fostering partnership between social media influencing and broadcast news reporting to help innovate his future job. 

“This is something that can really make a difference for journalists, especially in an era where journalism and media is constantly evolving,” McMillan said. 

The Griffiths Innovators, funded by former CNN news executive Richard T. Griffiths, is a program within the Journalism Innovation Lab of the Cox Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership. The program is intended to engage Grady journalism majors in innovation projects with local news organizations, providing a learning experience for both members of the partnership. 

Author: Sam Tupper; Samuel.Tupper@uga.edu