Congratulations to Alex Ip, ’24, for continuing his streak of wins this year. Alex recently won the 2024 Rising Star Award, an accolade given by the Atlanta Press Club to honor outstanding work from an Atlanta-area journalist under age 30. Alex won for his reporting and editorial coverage in The Xylom, a newsroom he founded six years ago as an undergraduate at Georgia Tech and where he currently serves as the editor-in-chief.

The Xylom covers science and environmental issues in the American and Global South and is currently the only Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)-serving science newsroom in the United States. Judges said that Alex’s reporting, which includes coverage of false claims the City of Atlanta made about the environmental impact of a law enforcement training center commonly called “Cop City,” shows “consistency and superior knowledge of his craft.”

The Rising Star Award announcement came just one day after Alex was selected for the Institute for Nonprofit News Emerging Leaders Council—a group dedicated to supporting and empowering diverse leaders who can strengthen the nonprofit news sector. The 2024 cohort includes representatives from a broad spectrum of newsrooms, including The Appeal, MLK50, The Intercept, The Narwhal, and Open Campus. Cohort members will receive individualized coaching on a project for their news organization.

Congratulations, Alex!