Egan Ward is now a reporter at the Puget Sound Business Journal. He covers restaurants, retail, and hospitality in Seattle. Ward graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in May 2025 after spending his senior year working with veteran ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis. Ward said MacGillis is not only his mentor, but also a friend.
Ward said of his time with WWG: “These are experiences you can’t get anywhere else. I had many great experiences at Mizzou, from reporting assignments in Washington D.C. and Beijing, to building reporting chops and getting clips at the Columbia Missourian and beyond. But to this day, I contend that my work with the Watchdog Writers Group stood out on my resume the most. The chance to conduct serious investigations under the tutelage of professional reporters is not an everyday opportunity.
I think sometimes with all the resources at Mizzou it can be easy to lose perspective on just how unique these opportunities truly are. And the Watchdog Writers Group might just be the most special program we’ve got.”
Ward’s other achievements include spending spring 2024 with The Washingtonian Magazine in Washington, D.C. as an editorial fellow. He was also a 2024 White House Correspondents’ Association Scholar and won the Missouri College Media Association’s Journalist of the Year Award in 2023. Previously, Ward was a staffer for the Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Innovation in Focus team, a higher education and health reporter for The Columbia Missourian, and the assistant general manager of Mizzou Student Media.
You can hear from Ward during an upcoming webinar about the benefits of joining WWG. The webinar on March 16 at 4:15 p.m. CST will feature Ward and Program Director Mya Frazier. Ward will talk about his experience with WWG and how it helped him build essential reporting skills and land a job after graduation. Register here.
