Lily Cummings '20 Wins a Hearst Journalism Award
Graduating journalism student Lily Cummings has placed 7th in the nation in the TV 2 News category in the 60th annual William Randolph Hearst Journalism Awards. Her accomplishment marks the first time a Loyola University New Orleans student has won a Hearst Award. This elite competition pulls from the nation’s top journalism and communication schools.
An Oklahoma native, Lily’s path to Loyola began in the spring semester of 2016 when she toured the campus as a high school senior and visited with journalism faculty. She had already decided to pursue a degree journalism and was drawn by the prospect of covering real news at a small school in a big city.
With the help of generous scholarships, Lily enrolled in Loyola’s School of Mass Communication and went on to a tackle a full-slate of rewarding education and work experiences. She worked on The Maroon Minute as a freshman and became executive producer of the program the following year. Lily was an active member of Loyola’s Radio, Television and Digital News Association (RTDNA) chapter, attended two of the organization’s national Excellence in Journalism conferences, and served as vice president of her RTDNA chapter for two years. She also worked in Loyola’s Shawn M. Donnelley Center for Nonprofit Communication as a videographer, assistant director, and finally director. Lily was an honors student and served twice as an Ignacio Volunteer in Kingston, Jamaica.
Lily interned at WDSU in the spring semester of her sophomore year and then worked four jobs for a year in order perform an internship with CBS News in New York City the summer of 2019. “It was worth every table I waited and fence I painted--trust me!” says Lily. “The CBS internship program is truly incredible, because they set up time for interns to hear and learn from renowned journalists almost every week.”
“Senior year hasn't ended the way I expected it would,” says Lily, “but I am incredibly grateful for my four years at Loyola and all of the faculty and staff at the School of Communication and Design! They guided me to choose Loyola and have helped me achieve every goal I had since I first stepped foot on campus. I am thankful I was called to New Orleans to be with and for others. I'm blessed to be leaving with an amazing job opportunity. I am excited to see where life takes me and to always credit Loyola and New Orleans for the setup to my success.”
Lily has accepted a job at KTUL in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.