Loren Tobia Leadership Award

2026 Recipient: Jessie Williams

RTDNA is honored to announce that Jessie Williams, news director at KTNV in Las Vegas, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of RTDNA’s Loren Tobia Leadership Award. 

Williams is an award-winning journalist and news director whose career has spanned several markets. She has worked for the E.W. Scripps Company for more than a decade, beginning as a producer at WXYZ in Detroit, then advancing to executive producer in Milwaukee and news director at FOX 47 in Lansing, and most recently at KTNV in Las Vegas.

She has served as news director in Las Vegas for more than three years. During that time, she has focused on rebranding the news department, launching and expanding programming on a newly acquired second station, and strengthening sports partnerships, among other initiatives.

What brings Williams the most joy in her career is the privilege of watching the more than 50 journalists on her team grow and thrive. Seeing them advance in their careers, reach milestones and win awards is exceptionally rewarding, and something she does not take for granted.

"Jessie Williams has done what the best newsroom leaders do: She held her team steady when everything around them was shifting, and she used that pressure to build something stronger. Her commitment to expanding investigative and community-focused journalism — even as budgets tightened and uncertainty mounted — reflects a leader who never lost sight of why the work matters. Jessie embodies exactly what the Loren Tobia Leadership Award recognizes," said RTDNA President and CEO Tara Puckey.

Announcement 

Applications Open January 2027