From White House reporters to magazine publishers, SJMC has instructed and guided many successful alumni throughout its century-long history. Jami Martin-Trainor is no exception. A recent graduate of SJMC, Martin-Trainor is currently an insights and audience strategy editor at The Washington Post, her role having been expanded from her initial internship.
As if that weren’t impressive enough, Martin-Trainor was recently awarded the Associated Collegiate Press’s Reporter of the Year Award for her work with The Daily Iowan.
Martin-Trainor wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, but she was notified of her achievement the same weekend as her brother’s wedding, which she described as being surreal.
“I was in the car with my mom...I was pretty proud of my submitted portfolio, but with national awards like this, it’s sort of in the back of my mind, not putting too much merit into it,” Martin-Trainor said. “So when I found out, I was super shocked, super happy. I was like, ‘Mom, I know we’re on our way to his wedding, but I’ve got really cool news.’ So, it was very exciting.”
For her portfolio, Martin-Trainor submitted pieces she wrote during her tenure as Executive Editor for The Daily Iowan. Spanning such issues as leadership in women’s basketball and changing relationship trends among Gen Z, she wanted her portfolio to have a theme of gender, which is one of her interests.
“I took a handful of gender studies classes at Iowa, and so I think that definitely influenced some of the reporting tracks and targets that I feel more passionate about,” Martin-Trainor said.
Through her experience with audience strategy, she has noticed that readers are interested in topics such as gender, intimacy, and relationships, which also steered her work towards tackling those issues.
Of course, there was homegrown inspiration too. Before attending UI, Martin-Trainor was a member of her high-school newspaper, where she helped found a digital magazine for community members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was that experience that really helped click in my brain that this work that we can do really impacts the people around us. It really has staying power,” Martin-Trainor said.
Since receiving the Associated Press award, Martin-Trainor has continued her work with The Washington Post and will continue until January 2026. She described her job title as “funky,” with her explaining that she performs many different roles, from data analysis to audience engagement.
“Essentially, my job is looking at audience data to see how we can use it to inform our strategy and help decide what we write and how we write. I think that informed a lot of the clips I submitted to the Collegiate Press, like that general mindset and segment of journalism is where a lot of the stories that I sent in for the award came from,” she said. “I think a lot about audiences, a lot about those who read and engage with journalism and our stories, because storytelling is how we can engage folks and get them into this ecosystem of journalism. I’m a firm believer of that.”
Martin-Trainor has also used her experiences with the Post to place special focus on reaching communities in the Midwest and the South, where journalism is not as accessible, especially in rural areas.
“Generally speaking, national newsrooms really struggle with reaching and speaking to folks in those areas. So, I’ve been able to sort of leverage my background in the various newsrooms I’ve been in to help give voice to those communities that are often under-covered. I found that to be really important,” she said.
Martin-Trainor is grateful for the opportunities and recognition she has been given and hopes to someday work in a leadership role with a focus on audience engagement. She described how professors helped her choose which pieces to submit to the Collegiate Press, alongside encouragement from fellow reporters at The Daily Iowan. Her future is currently somewhat unknown, but she is happy to have had a support system that only strengthened her passion for journalism.
“Without the support systems at Iowa, from both The Daily Iowan and the university, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to flourish or succeed in the ways that I did while I was in college. So, I’m just really grateful and appreciative of all the folks who believed in me,” she said.
You can find Martin-Trainor's Associated Collegiate Press submission pieces below.