The University of Vermont’s Center for Community News has selected Emily Hughes Corio, associate director of the West Virginia University Reed School of Media and Communications, as a 2025 Community News Champion (CNC).
Corio is one of 33 university faculty winners across 25 states selected for their excellence in growing university-led reporting programs. Community News Champions receive a $1,000 award as well as peer support and coaching throughout the year.
“I am excited to spend the next several months learning more about what other journalism programs in the country are doing to support the development of student journalists while increasing coverage of local news,” Corio said. “We have existing strong student reporting partnerships with local and regional news outlets, and this fellowship will allow us to consider additional ways we could support and increase real-world journalism opportunities for students while benefiting local news coverage at the same time.”
The awards build connections between faculty, public media professionals and news leaders dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists. The year’s work will go toward enhancing and supporting students’ contributions to covering local news.
“Student reporting has emerged as one critical solution to the crisis facing local news,” said Center for Community News Director Richard Watts. “The people running these news-academic partnerships are leading the next generation of courageous journalists, storytellers and civic leaders. We are honored to help amplify their work.”
Corio is an award-winning journalist who spent a decade in public media before joining WVU in August 2011. In 2014, she created the Adventure Travel Writing course, which led her to develop the Reed School’s Sports and Adventure Media major.
In 2015 and 2016, Corio was one of three WVU professors who worked on an experimental journalism class that combined data and science journalism to report on water quality in northern West Virginia. In 2018 and 2019, she co-led a collaborative investigative reporting project that brought together faculty and students from WVU and George Washington University to report on two different subjects – the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s economic and environmental impact in West Virginia and the opioid epidemic in Appalachia. In 2018, Corio was awarded the Reed School’s annual Outstanding Teaching Award.
Along with being the school’s associate director, Corio remains a teaching professor in media and communications.
“Student reporting is essential for the profession of journalism because it allows students to develop reporting, writing and editing skills while still having the support and mentorship of experienced faculty,” Corio said. “Not only do our students at WVU gain reporting experience early in their college careers from class assignments, but we also provide students with valuable real-world reporting experience through our special reporting projects and in our journalism capstone courses. This hands-on experience sets our students up for success when they enter the profession and ensures that they are prepared to work as skilled, ethical journalists who provide important information and insights to the communities where they report.”
For more information about the Reed School of Media and Communications, visit mediaandcommunications.wvu.edu.