The Syracuse Press Club is pleased to announce the winner of its 2021 A. Brohmann Roth Newcomer Award, based on stellar work by a young reporter in 2020.
Congratulations to Ricky Sayer, who was selected from a group of terrific new journalists in the Syracuse area.
Ricky, a senior at Syracuse University, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast and Digital Journalism with plans to graduate in December of this year.
He joined Binghamton’s WBNG 12 News in September of 2020, and started reporting on-air for the station less than a month later.
On campus, Ricky served in a variety of roles at student-run organizations including CitrusTV and at WJPZ-FM/Z89. At CitrusTV, Ricky currently serves as the Programming and Development Director, the Assignment Manager, and as anchor and reporter. He joined the station’s on-air staff in 2018, focusing his efforts on growing the station’s news gathering and investigative efforts.
At Z89, Ricky is the station’s news director and is currently in the process of relaunching the station’s news updates program. He has previously interned for both CBS News and NBC10 Philadelphia. Before entering college, Ricky launched his high school’s TV station in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania.
Patrick Lohmann, who nominated him, writes this:
“It’s easy to forget that as good as Ricky Sayer is, he’s barely gotten started. I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside him at different outlets on a couple of big stories over the last couple years. Each time, he’s stood out as an energetic, informed and charismatic journalist. He has a great future ahead of him, but he’s already doing the work on numerous important topics.
“I’ve seen him ask technical, important questions on the Interstate 81 topic. He was among the reporters trying to make sense of the beleaguered 22nd Congressional District race. He has mastered the use of social media for news-gathering and works incredibly hard to answer the questions his audience cares about, even if those questions are about Schine quesadillas. Perhaps most importantly, he knows how to listen closely to people and treat their stories with care, as he did during the #NotAgainSU protests.”
You can view Ricky’s most recent stories here: https://rickyreports.tv/…/ricky-sayer-recent-regional…
• Our 2020 Newcomer of the Year was Mike Curtis. See more past winners.