By Katherine Taylor
Graduate Assistant at the Center for Media Ethics and Literacy
Two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Lauryn Higgins will share tips on freelancing and story pitching during an open session this Thursday, Sept. 11, at 10 a.m. in the Student Media Center, Kimpel 203.
Higgins joined the School of Journalism and Strategic Media as full-time faculty this fall.
She won her first Pulitzer in 2021 as part of a team at The New York Times that tracked the Covid-19 pandemic. Two years later, she won her second, also with a New York Times team, for work covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Lauryn is an incredible asset to our school,” said Gina Shelton, director of the Center for Media Ethics and Literacy. “This talk will give students a chance to hear how to work as a freelancer, how to find impactful story ideas, and how to approach complex reporting projects.”
Higgins is a freelancer with stories appearing in The New York Times, NPR, Women’s Health, Shape, Time, Parents, Flow Space, Health.com, Teen Vogue and other outlets.
At the University of Arkansas this semester she teaches Storytelling for Today’s Media and Ethics in Journalism. She also has worked as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I genuinely love learning, and one of the reasons I love teaching is that I get to learn from my students every day,” Higgins said. “They keep me engaged and let me know what is going on in the world, what news consumers are wanting, and that makes me a better journalist.”
Her talk is the second of four in the journalism school’s September Speaker Series, hosted by the Center for Media Ethics and Literacy.