EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - PROFESSIONAL PRIZES

Abi Wright is the Executive Director of Columbia Journalism School’s Professional Prizes Department. She joined Columbia in 2008 as the director of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards. Previously, she worked at the Committee to Protect Journalists, ABC News, NBC News and Fox News. She is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

aew2113@columbia.edu

DIRECTOR, DUPONT-COLUMBIA AWARDS & JOHN CHANCELLOR AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM

Lisa R. Cohen is Director of Professional Prizes at Columbia Journalism School, administering the duPont-Columbia Awards and the John Chancellor Awards for Excellence in Journalism. Previously she spent 30-plus years as an ABC and CBS News producer, author, documentary filmmaker, and Columbia Journalism School adjunct professor. She is a graduate of the U. of Pennsylvania, and Columbia’s Graduate School of Arts and Science’s Oral History (OHMA) department.

Lisa.R.Cohen@columbia.edu

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR

Luz Montez is the program administrator of Columbia Journalism School Professional Prizes Department. She is an Emmy award-winning journalist, with two decades at ABC News managing breaking news teams. Luz has also worked at the American Museum of Natural History creating and managing several of their signature events and at Consumer Reports, producing videos for national distribution and social media platforms. She is a graduate of the U. of Wisconsin. l.montez@columbia.edu

DUPONT FELLOW, 2024-2025

Laine Immell is a full-time student in the M.S. program at Columbia Journalism School. Prior to pursuing her masters degree, she worked in Philadelphia as a videographer at a local news station. Her passions lie in video journalism and documentary filmmaking, and hopes to use this form of media to tell important, people-focused stories that span the globe.

DUPONT FELLOW, 2024-2025

Vahini Shori, from the great state of New Jersey, is a current student in the M.S. full time program. Before Columbia, she was an associate at Kaleidoscope, a small podcast studio telling the world's biggest stories. She looks forward to a career telling stories that center people and the things that make our world wonderful.