{"id":3057,"date":"2020-10-31T14:09:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T18:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jem.utk.edu\/?p=3057"},"modified":"2025-09-03T11:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:46:14","slug":"teresa-walker-receives-jem-2020-alumna-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/jem\/2020\/10\/31\/teresa-walker-receives-jem-2020-alumna-of-the-year-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Teresa Walker receives JEM 2020 Alumna of the Year award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teresa Walker, pro football writer for The Associated Press in Tennessee, is the 2020 Alumna of the Year for the School of Journalism and Electronic Media.\"\"<\/p>\n

A three-time Tennessee Sportswriter of the Year recipient, Walker was elected to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2020.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Walker won a 2015 APSE<\/a> award for a feature from the Masters, and she is also a two-time president of the Pro Football Writers Association in Nashville and past president of the Tennessee Sports Writers Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walker has come full circle with UT\u2019s recognition of her work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredibly humbling, and I am so honored,\u201d she said. \u201cI worked my way through my time at the University of Tennessee, carrying a full course load while usually working 40 hours a week to help pay my tuition and buy my books. I also know the talent that has come through this college, which makes me appreciate this all the more.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Walker graduated from UT in 1987, she went to work as a news reporter for The Daily Times in Maryville. She has worked for AP in Nashville since December 1989. Walker became a Tennessee sports editor for AP in June 1992. She became a beat writer for the [now-named] Tennessee Titans in 1997.<\/p>\n

She reflected on her milestones and reminisced on her UT days.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwards like the Hall of Fame and this make me feel appreciated,\u201d she said. \u201cI also realize that time has flown by. It feels like just yesterday I was hustling to a feature writing class taught by Dr. [Jim] Crook with Chris Low [senior writer of ESPN], Donna Smith [news editor of The Oak Ridger], Mark Burgess [senior reporter and editor of IHS Markit] and David Grim [marketing vice president of Sports Systems] among my classmates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker has covered five Olympics, four Super Bowls and the 2014 Women\u2019s Final Four basketball tournament in Nashville. Additionally, she has covered many of the Southeastern Conference men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball tournaments as well as NCAA Tournaments.<\/p>\n

She also covers the NHL\u2019s Nashville Predators, including the 2017 Stanley Cup Final; Vanderbilt football, basketball and baseball; the NBA\u2019s Memphis Grizzlies and the Memphis Tigers.<\/p>\n

Walker described her experience as a female sports reporter in a predominantly male field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m lucky in that I have not dealt with the harassment or other issues I know many other women dealt with and are still facing daily,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because I work for [AP] or credit to the men in this field in the state of Tennessee, but I\u2019ve always been treated as \u2018one of the guys.\u2019<\/p>\n

Navigating the sportswriting field as a young journalist had its challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really easy because I didn\u2019t feel confident enough to ask other sportswriters for tips, and there was no email or social media to help me reach out to other women working either at AP or in sports journalism for feedback,\u201d Walker said. \u201cThat made me work even harder to try to be my best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teresa Walker, pro football writer for The Associated Press in Tennessee, is the 2020 Alumna of the Year for the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. A three-time Tennessee Sportswriter of the Year recipient, Walker was elected to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2020. Furthermore, Walker won a 2015 APSE award […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20,8],"tags":[102,51,103,104,105,106,107,108,109],"class_list":["post-3057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-featured-story","category-news","tag-102","tag-alumni","tag-award","tag-hall-of-fame","tag-sports-journalism","tag-tennessee-sports-writer-association","tag-teresa-walker","tag-the-associated-press","tag-university-of-tennessee-knoxville"],"yoast_head":"\nTeresa Walker receives JEM 2020 Alumna of the Year award - School of Journalism & Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/jem\/2020\/10\/31\/teresa-walker-receives-jem-2020-alumna-of-the-year-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teresa Walker receives JEM 2020 Alumna of the Year award - School of Journalism & Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teresa Walker, pro football writer for The Associated Press in Tennessee, is the 2020 Alumna of the Year for the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. 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