Writing/Editing

I keep connected to the industry by leading experiential learning programs, producing pieces for media outlets and contributing to non-fiction books.

The photo carousel shows our Cox Institute and Journalism Writing Lab events.

I lead the Journalism Writing Lab And am part of the Cox Institute

The Cox Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership provides free programs for students and newsrooms to enhance reporting, writing and digital and conceptual innovation for community journalism in the Southeast. We celebrate their accomplishments at our Hackathons and the Spring Leadership Dinner. Through the Journalism Writing Lab, students produce compelling stories on poverty, county government, mental health, consumer news, personal finance and lifestyle journalism for industry media partners.

You can find a collection of stories, opportunities and tipsheets on writing and editing on the Writing Lab's website.

“My experience with the Cox Institute’s Covering Poverty project was very formative,” Liz Rymarev, spring 2023 and fall 2024 editor in chief of The Red & Black, said in the college’s “Profiles of Tenacity” series. “In my first two semesters at Grady, I was able to take on stories that dealt with heavy topics, and the lessons I learned from those stories and the people I interviewed has helped me find ways to connect with my community and learn about the struggles they face here at UGA and in the Athens-Clarke area. I even had my stories published in The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, which was exciting to know that it had a larger audience and people saw the sensitive work we did throughout the year.”

The Journalism Writing Lab’s U.S.-India Project in fall 2023 teamed up students on enterprise stories linking the nations. Working with senior Associated Press journalist Laura Ungar and India Blooms News Service founder-editor and former Reuters correspondent Sujoy Dhar, the students produced one story on digital payments and another on the capsule wardrobe trend. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Oglethorpe Echo, Macon.com and nearly a dozen India media outlets published the stories

Here are some examples of our recent projects and coverage areas.

Mental Health

The lab is a part of The Carter Center's Mental Health Parity Collaborative, a group of newsrooms covering stories on mental health care access and inequities in the U.S. Students will produce multi-sourced stories in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

'The first piece on barriers in terms of accessibility to mental health care in Oglethorpe County was published in The Oglethorpe Echo in 2024.

Poverty

Our poverty coverage has two components: Covering Poverty, a free toolkit for journalists and professionals with tutorials, guidance and story exemplars; and multimedia feature stories and service journalism pieces written and produced by our students on poverty for media partners including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AJC.com, Athens Banner-Herald/OnlineAthens.com, The Oglethorpe Echo and The Current, a nonprofit outlet in coastal Georgia.

County Government

We launched in 2024 a pilot program where students cover county meetings for The Oconee Enerprise. Students gained more experience covering monthly council meetings in the Oconee County communities of Bogart and Bishop that the newspaper had been unable to cover due to low staffing. Stories included on a mayor's resignation due to health issues, plans for a new park, an update on a building moratorium and safety cameras.