Former Los Alamos Paperboy Lee Powell Receives Prestigious 2021 Edward R. Murrow Award

LAHS 1994 graduate and former Los Alamos paperboy Lee Powell honored at the 2021 Murrow Awards Oct. 27 in New York City. Photo by Chorus Photography/@ChorusPhotog

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

Lee Powell has come a long way from delivering newspapers on his bike when he was a student at Los Alamos Middle School and Los Alamos High School (LAHS).

The 1994 LAHS graduate just received his 5th national Edward R. Murrow Award for journalistic excellence. 

Powell credits his time doing speech and debate at LAHS under the coaching of Noel Trujillo with preparing him for a news career.

“Especially when I step in front of a camera,” Powell said.
Powell is the son of Irene and David Powell of Los Alamos. They mentioned that their son was active in scouting and earned the Eagle Scout Award.
“That contributed to his good work ethic,” they said. “He was conscientious about any job he worked at. For a couple of years starting in middle school, he distributed newspapers for the Los Alamos Monitor, which meant folding the papers before he delivered them on his bike. We offered to drive him around but he said he wanted to do this on his own. He felt responsible for getting the news out, which you might now say he is still doing!”

A journey on airlines and through airports after the world shut down from the pandemic. And a journey across one region of Florida gauging issues and moods leading into the 2020 presidential election. These stories were winning entries for Powell, who snared his 2021 Murrow Award for writing.

The Murrows are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association and are among the most prestigious in broadcasting. He received his latest Murrow Oct. 27 in New York City, the fourth time he has won for writing.

Powell has been a video reporter at The Washington Post since 2013, after stints at The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. and newspapers and television stations in other parts of the country.

At the Post, Powell presents video stories on washingtonpost.com and other digital platforms. He travels extensively, working behind and in front of the camera.

He has covered Olympics, elections, presidential inaugurations and state funerals. And the five-year journey of a nearly-complete T. rex skeleton from out of the ground in Montana to the centerpiece of the fossil hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Powell is based in Washington. He is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois.

Lee Powell helps anchor live programming on Sept. 11, 2021 from the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania. Courtesy/Lee Powell

Lee Powell reports from the Demilitarized Zone along the border of South and North Korea. Courtesy/Lee Powell

Lee Powell reports live from Atlanta during a Democratic primary debate in November 2019. Courtesy/Lee Powell

Lee Powell beside the skeleton of a nearly-complete T. rex as it is prepared for display inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. in August 2018. Courtesy/Lee Powell

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems