Trymaine Lee

Trymaine D. Lee (born September 20, 1978) is an American journalist. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of Hurricane Katrina as part of a team at The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. After obtaining an associate degree in communications studies at Camden County College, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. While at Rowan, he wrote for the school newspaper The Whit and was involved with the NAACP.

Career Lee began his career reporting on police and crime at the Philadelphia Tribune and the Trentonian of Trenton, New Jersey. Outside of his work as a daily reporter, his work has also appeared in the magazines Ebony, Essence, Real Health and The Crisis. During this period, Lee also reported from Albany and Brooklyn and contributed to a series of videos called "New York On Less".

Reporting on Trayvon Martin Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American man, was fatally shot on February 26, 2012. Lee did not learn of Martin 's death until more than a week afterward, but he was one of the first national reporters to cover the story, for Huffington Post's Black Voices on March 8, 2012. He continued filing stories on the case nearly every day that month. He believes that his "early coverage definitely helped light the fire ... Before we pushed the story, few if any major national news outlets were covering it." Lee appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the story multiple times.

MSNBC In November 2012, Lee joined MSNBC as a national reporter for its digital unit, reporting on social justice issues and the impact of politics and policy on everyday people. Lee described his move to MSNBC as a chance to "flex different muscles" as a journalist.

In February 2020, Lee began hosting the MSNBC podcast Into America.

Awards

Pulitzer Prizes "Nightmare in the 9th Ward all too real for one woman" was one of the ten stories cited when The Times-Picayune staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2006. Lee shared the award with three other reporters, Doug MacCash, Manuel Torres, and Mark Schleifstein. The award marked the first time a Pulitzer was awarded for online journalism.

Other awards In 2006, Lee was named Emerging Journalist of the Year (one of three) by the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2021, Lee won "Podcast Host of the Year" at the Adweek Podcast Awards.