Karges, NeSmith, Brown and Lowrey named 2026 Grady College Alumni Award recipients

Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Alumni Awards, recognizing alumni who have established a tradition of service and achievement in their careers.

Recipients this year include:

The John E. Drewry Young Alumni Award will be presented to Sarah Karges (ABJ ’15), senior vice president, Performance Investment for Havas Media Group. The John E. Drewry Young Alumni Award recognizes a graduate of the last decade who has experienced a successful early career. John Drewry graduated from the journalism school in 1922 and served as dean for 37 years from 1932 until 1969.

The Professional Excellence Award will be presented to Eric NeSmith (ABJ ’02), publisher and co-owner of The Bitter Southerner. The Professional Excellence (Mid-Career) Award is presented to a graduate for their professional achievements, influence and success in his or her field.

The John Holliman, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Tracy Brown (ABJ ’88), chief partnership officer for Chicago Public Media. This award is named after the late John Holliman (ABJ ’70), former CNN reporter, and honors sustained contributions to the profession throughout a career. As the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Brown will also be inducted into the Grady Fellowship.

The Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award will be presented to Wilson Lowrey (MA ’90, PhD ’00), professor at the University of Alabama. The Distinguished Scholar Award honors a graduate for excellence and sustained contributions to scholarship in journalism and mass communication education.

Alumni Award recipients will be recognized at the College’s annual recognition event, “Grady Salutes: A Celebration of Achievement, Leadership and Commitment,” on Friday, March 27, 2026, on the Schnitzer Family Media Lawn. The Grady Salutes luncheon will also honor inductees into the Grady Fellowship.

Sarah Karges is the senior vice president of performance investment at the Havas Media Group, an international media agency. As an advertising major at Grady College, Karges served on the PHD Scholars Program, a six-month externship and research project focued on Millennial purchasing trends. That project led her to first job after graduation working on digital media buying at PHD. In 2018, Karges joined Havas to direct programmatic activation, or digital advertising, for the agency’s largest pharmaceutical client. Currently, Karges oversees the entire U.S. programmatic practice across all clients and verticals in the New York, Chicago, Boston and Miami offices. Karges regularly serves as a guest lecturer for Grady College classes.

Eric NeSmith is the publisher and co-owner of The Bitter Southerner, a media brand telling stories about the South through print magazines, books, podcasts and e-commerce. NeSmith grew up around newspapers, working at his father’s weekly newspaper in Jesup, Georgia, as a boy, then moving through the ranks of reporter, sales, publisher and editor of The Highlander in Highlands, North Carolina. Following, he served as vice president at Community Newspapers, Inc, which owns and operates 23 newspapers in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. In 2016, NeSmith became publisher and co-owner of The Bitter Southerner on a mission to make the South, America, and the world a better place. NeSmith is the past president of the board of directors for the Georgia Press Association and past chair of the Grady College Alumni Board. He currently serves on the Grady College Board of Trust.

Tracy Brown is the chief partnership officer of Chicago Public Media. She also oversees advertising and sponsorship at WBEZ public radio and the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. Over the past several years, she has served as managing editor of WBEZ and chief content officer of WBEZ and The Chicago Sun-Times. Brown spent more than a decade as the news leader at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, including as deputy manager editor and Page 1 editor, as well as editor of features, arts and education. She also served as an editor at the Dallas Morning News and worked at the St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) and South Carolina’s The State newspaper. She is a past chair of the Grady College Alumni Board and a longtime member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Wilson Lowrey is a professor in the Department of Journalism & Creative Media at the University of Alabama. Prior to earning his Ph.D., Lowrey worked seven years in newspapers: two years at the Athens Daily News, where he drew political cartoons, and five years at The Atlanta Constitution. In 2003, he joined the faculty at the University of Alabama after three years at Mississippi State University. Lowrey has authored or co-authored over 80 scholarly publications, including several books including Russian Regional Journalism: Struggle and Survival in the Heartland and Media Management: A Casebook Approach, among others.

Watch for more in-depth interviews of each recipient coming soon.

Previous recipients can be viewed on the Grady College Alumni Awards webpage.

Tickets for Grady Salutes can be purchased here.

Author: Sarah Freeman, freemans@uga.edu