Amanda is a 10-time award-winning journalist who has been in the field for more than a decade. A graduate of Valdosta State University, where she was a features editor for the campus newspaper, Amanda has since moved on to embark on a career that has led her to winning top state awards through the Georgia Press Association.
She has been a lifestyles editor for The Valdosta Daily Times and a magazine editor for The Daily Times' monthly publication, Valdosta Scene, overseeing a small staff and being third-in-command in the newsroom. While at the Daily Times, she revamped the company's magazine, acted as a link between the community and readers and took on hard-hitting assignments that garnered her multiple accolades while remaining committed to community journalism.
Her leadership then took her to The Griffin Daily News, where she was a managing editor and department head who worked closely with the publisher and marketing manager. While there, she brought new light to the newspaper and its bimonthly magazine, Southern Crescent Living. She established new weekly departments for the newspaper while correlating opportunities for advertising and editorial to come together and share space on the pages.
Her awards include: two for Investigating Reporting (first and third place), Feature Photo (second place), three for Lifestyle Coverage (first and second places), Best Magazine Overall Design (first place), Magazine Cover Design (third place), Magazine Product (second place) and Religion Writing (third place).
The Associated Press has run 13 of her stories through its weekend wire, and she has had multiple stories to circulate both nationally and internationally in several print and digital publications. National Public Radio Atlanta (WABE) has interviewed Amanda about her work.
She has interviewed Adrian Peterson, Gov. Brian Kemp, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, Super Bowl Champ Malcolm Mitchell, Elizabeth Smart, two Harlem Globetrotters, Pam Tebow, Misty Copeland and the late Burt Reynolds. She has also photographed Shaquille O'Neal, Flo Rida and other public figures.
Amanda has a passion for storytelling and enjoys being a voice for the local community. While her work ranges from crime to business to education news, her heart lies in features journalism as it offers the chance to meet diverse people and share their stories in a way that matters. The readers and those she interviews will always come first for Amanda.
The accused dump truck driver fled the scene but returned about 20 minutes after police say he hit and killed a pedestrian in Brookhaven.
Family of the Cartersville man accused of taking an AR-15 assault rifle to the Atlanta airport is a businessman who wouldn't harm someone.
Millions of Americans will not receive SNAP benefits until the federal government shutdown ends. Here's what that means for Georgia.
Millions of Florida residents will not receive SNAP benefits until the federal government shutdown ends.
Police said former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star Doug Martin was involved in a break-in and became unresponsive while in custody.
A pedestrian was crossing the street when he was fatally hit on a busy Marietta road, police say.
The suspected threats were made during a live stream viewed by family members, police say.
A fire displaced at least 20 people, a missing dentist has been located and a shooting injured a teenage boy.
More than 200 passengers were aboard a Delta Air Lines California-bound flight that was diverted to the Atlanta airport.
Five children were among dozens of people who were displaced after a blaze at an East Atlanta condominium complex, media reports say.
Three people are dead after a weekend shooting in central Georgia, authorities say.
The search for a Georgia woman led authorities to a transfer station, where her body was found among waste, they say.
A be-on-the-lookout alert has been canceled after a missing dentist from Marietta has been safely found after a week.
A teenage boy was found laying between two parked cars with gunshot wounds in a Marietta parking lot, police say.
The driver was engaged in a road-rage shooting when they were hit by a hit-and-run vehicle and an APD patrol car on I-75, authorities say.
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Thousands of Social Security Administration employees — about 12 percent of the staff — have been furloughed during the shutdown.
A popular university in Georgia broke the top 20 among the best post-secondary institutions in the nation.
A suspect is accused of shooting at Sandy Springs officers, injuring one of them, according to police.
See when two comets may be viewable to you in Florida.
