Eli Watkins, a senior in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, has completed his work as an Innovation Fellow with the Cox Institute for Journalism, Management and Leadership.
Watkins served as the Innovation Fellow during the spring 2015 semester, working on multiple projects for the Cox Institute. He participated in and was the student coordinator for the Grady Mobile News Lab, maintained the Cox Institute website, participated in an industry research project and covered the Georgia Technology Summit as an innovation reporter.
“I am really grateful to have been the Cox Innovation Fellow this semester,” he said. “Working with and learning about cutting edge trends in newsgathering changed my perspective on what it means to be a reporter in a digital world.”
Watkins has accepted a contract position with CNN as an associate producer on the network’s mobile team continuing with project work he began in Grady’s Mobile News Lab.
Watkins is graduating Summa Cum Laude with dual degrees in journalism and political science. He has interned in Washington, D.C., with Rep. Henry “Hank” Johnson, Jr. and in Atlanta with the Technology Association of Georgia. Watkins was selected this spring as a Cox Poynter Leader, a leadership development program offered by the Cox Institute in partnership with the Poynter Institute. Watkins has been a reporter for Generation Progress and a writer for the Georgia Political Review. Watkins earned a gold medal for a creative project in a journalism special topics course and is the recipient of the Lewis Grizzard Journalism Scholarship.
