ABOUT

Rita Omokha is an award-winning Nigerian American journalist in New York City. She was born and spent her early childhood in Benin City, Edo State. 

 

Her writing on politics, race, and vulnerable communities has been featured on CNN and in Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Elle, Glamour, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and WIRED, among other publications and outlets.

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She has written about policing in America, federal inaction on growing numbers of COVID orphans, and missing and murdered Indigenous women. 

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She's an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she graduated at the top of the 2020 class, receiving some of the institution’s highest awards, including the Pulitzer Prize Traveling Fellowship.

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During her time at Columbia, she served as co-president of the African Student Association, which spotlighted the intersection of journalism, press freedom, and the African diaspora. She previously worked in digital media for CNN, NBC, and Viacom and served in AmeriCorps in 2013.

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SELECT HONORS AND AWARDS

Livingston Award, national reporting finalist

Education Writers Association, features award 

Society of Professional Journalists, features award

Dart Award for Trauma Reporting

Columbia University, Bill Campbell award ​

Columbia University, Pulitzer Prizes Traveling Fellowship 

Columbia University, Lynton Foundation book writing award

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