Telegraph reporter wins coveted Emerging Young Journalist Award in Georgia
.JPG "Jesse Fraga of the Telegraph wins Georgia’s Emerging Young Journalist Award 2024 and tops enterprise story category with critical reporting in Macon.")
Telegraph reporter Jesse Fraga headlined the publication’s results in the 2024 Georgia Press Association’s annual awards, winning the Emerging Young Journalist Award.
The prestigious award is given out each year to top journalists younger than 30 with less than five years of experience writing professionally for a newspaper. Fraga was one of two journalists to earn the honor this year — the other was Lucille Lannigan of the Albany Herald.
“It’s a massive honor to win the Emerging Journalist award, which affirms the importance of telling stories of communities often overlooked,” Fraga said. “This recognition really encourages me to continue asking hard questions through accountability and solutions-based local journalism. I’m grateful to share this award with the courageous voices in Middle Georgia who have trusted me to share their stories. I’m more motivated than ever to continue amplifying underreported voices, investigating injustice and driving awareness and change.”
Fraga also took first place in GPA’s “enterprise story” category, for his reporting on how religion and schooling discourage discussion about abortion in Macon. Fraga worked with visual journalist Katie Tucker to produce engaging video and photo that added to the story.
A judge assessing Fraga’s work in the category said he offered “very impressive, in-depth coverage that explored different angles and included lots of voices, including regular impacted people in addition to officials and advocates. The extra elements added to the stories.”
Several other Telegraph journalists earned honors at this year’s awards, which were announced over the weekend:
- Reporters Alba Rosa and Myracle Lewis came in second place in the enterprise story category.
- Visual journalist Katie Tucker came in second place in the “best web photo” category
- Reporters Lu Warnke, Rosa and Lewis came in second in the “feature writing” category
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