Alumni in the News

Since 1919, the Daily Bruin has served as a training ground for generations of student journalists and launched the careers of many successful alumni. From Carol Burnett to Matea Gold, check out these Notable Daily Bruin alumni who we celebrate for their accomplishments and impact well beyond the walls of Kerckhoff Hall.

Alumni Spotlights

• The Washington Post named Matea Gold ’96 as new managing editor (5/11/2023)
• Matea Gold (DB EIC 1995) and Washington Post Senior Projects Editor Courtney Kan (DB Prime Art Director 2009) were each editors on multiple projects recognized with 2023 Pulitzer Prizes. (5/8/2023)
• L.A. Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Ann Killion win top honors in the 2023 National Headliner Awards. (5/2023)
• Alan Shipnuck ’96 published his ninth book: Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar (5/2/2023)
• Former DB Sports writer Jay Posner ’83 retired from a career in sports journalism after 34 years.(12/2/2022)
• Marc Dellins ’76 was admitted to the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame for his five decades working for UCLA. He oversaw 91 NCAA team champions! (3/9/2022)
• Neil Bedi ’15, a UCLA computer science alumnus, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting after an investigation into the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. Neil founded the Daily Bruin’s data and tech blog The Stack and served as a Photo editor. (6/11/2021)
• Lee Goldberg ’84 published his latest crime novel, “Bone Canyon.” The sixth movie in the MYSTERY 101 series, which he co-created with Robin Bernheim, finished production in Vancouver and is airing on Hallmark. (1/5/2021)
• DB alumna and 49ers executive Hannah Gordon ’03 published her first business interest book, SZN of CHANGE (11/17/2020)
• Cari Champion ’98, the 2018 DBAN Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, has a new TV show (8/19/2020)
• Robert Faturechi ’08 joined DBAN board member Sara Randazzo ’08 to discuss his Pulitzer Prize-winning series on fatal disasters in the Navy and Marines. He shared how the Daily Bruin helped jump-start his career and how he cracks a tough story. (7/14/2020)
• Robert Faturechi ’08 won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. He and a team from ProPublica spent a year and a half reporting on three deadly accidents in the Marines and Navy that uncovered culpability for the disasters stemming from the highest levels of the organizations. Robert got his start as an investigative reporter at The Bruin, where in 2007 he wrote about UCLA’s dental school saving admissions slots for donors’ relatives. (5/6/2020)
• Courtney Kan Alcantara ’10, a designer at the Washington Post, contributed to the paper’s Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for a series on climate change. (5/4/2020)
• Former Daily Bruin EIC Anthony Pesce helps L.A. Times Guild reach tentative  agreement with newspaper (10/16/2019)
• National Geographic chairman Gary Knell ‘75 on Disney’s future, Fox’s legacy (3/19/2019)
• Art Spander ’60 still going strong at the 2018 NBA Finals (6/1/2018)
• Daily Bruin 1968 EIC Brian Weiss reflects on TIME cover, 50 years later (3/22/2018)
• True Believer: A profile of Frank Spotnitz ’82 in UCLA Magazine (7/1/2018)
• From Kerckhoff to the Washington Post: An Evening with Matea Gold ‘95 (4/20/2018)
• Robert Salonga ’04, East Bay Times staff win Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Ghost Ship fire (4/19/2017) 

Distinguished Alumni Award

Since 2018, the Daily Bruin Alumni Network has honored an alum of The Bruin as our Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. The purpose of the award is to celebrate a former Daily Bruin staffer for their contributions to journalism, their leadership or impact on their chosen profession and/or their commitment to the Daily Bruin community.

2022: Cuauhtemoc Ortega ’03

2021: Martin Kasindorf ’60

2019: Gary Knell ’75

2018: Cari Champion ’98