Chronicle editor wins national award

During her first day as an intern at The Sumter Item in 2021, Bryn Eddy said she didn’t want to be a journalist.

Teach, probably. Write, maybe.

Her experience gained from serving as editor-in-chief of The Johnsonian, the student newspaper at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, and this newsroom internship, made possible by a South Carolina Press Association’s Hubert Osteen Memorial Scholarship, would spur those efforts into reality.

Two of those three aspirations she stated upon meeting her “editor just for the summer” are true today. She is a writer. She is also a teacher.

But she is also most certainly a journalist.

Eddy, newsletter editor for The Item and Osteen Publishing Company’s South Carolina newspapers and editor of the Lexington County Chronicle, an OPC paper, was named to this year’s class of Editor & Publisher’s 25 Under 35, renamed for 2026 to “Tomorrow’s News Trailblazers.”

Eddy’s peers represent different roles in different news media organizations of varying types and sizes. They span the country, all compiled to showcase the young media leadership landscape by E&P, the nation’s premier voice of reporting on the industry.

“This salute showcases our future — one that’s inspired, passionate and innovative — reinvigorated by fresh ideas and talent,” E&P Magazine Editor-in-Chief Robin Blinder wrote in her announcement of the 2026 class. “This group of ‘Trailblazers’ is redefining the industry and transforming news media.”

“Eddy, [who returned to The Item in 2023,] juggles multiple beats and responsibilities while maintaining a cool and problem-solving perspective in situations many would shy away from,” her nomination reads. “She can just as easily gain the trust of a small-town mayor as she can get people to open up about their life’s story because they know she will handle the story with care, accuracy and a flair for her own unique voice.”

And that’s just her role as a reporter.

“Having been promoted to editor of The Chronicle in only her early 20s, Bryn is one of the youngest editors in our family-owned company’s history. She has transitioned from working in a daily newsroom — at The Sumter Item, where she started as an intern then became a full-time city government reporter — to leading The Chronicle, a weekly paper, handling turnover and restructuring with innate leadership qualities that help push her team forward both in terms of quality and culture,” her nomination continues.

The Item’s newsletters have grown in audience and engagement, all while she has been building a highly engaged audience for the Chronicle’s newsletter, which she launched upon transitioning to full-time editor there in 2024.

The teacher part? That, too.

Eddy is simultaneously studying for her Master of Arts in Journalism, where her focus is media ethics. After her days at the Chronicle, she teaches 20 undergraduate students as an instructor of record in writing for mass communication, essentially a journalism writing 101 class. She has also been a panelist at several SCPA collegiate award meetings and last year attended a conference that brought cross-industry professionals together to innovate and learn about newsletters.

When asked to give future news trailblazers advice in Blinder’s E&P article, Eddy homed in on humanity. Yes, even in this digital landscape. Especially, even.

“You can get involved with local theater, volunteer at your local shelter and attend community events as a citizen; basically, learn to love the community you’re reporting in, and tell your readers about it,” Eddy says in the article. “News consumers, especially at the local level, want their reporters to be real people with real passions, loved ones, favorite local spots and growing personal roots in the area.”

“The Lexington County Chronicle and The Sumter Item continue to reinvigorate my love for local news and remind me how valuable having access to that information is for communities,” she said in response to the recognition. “I owe endless thanks to my bosses, coworkers and readers for trusting me and supporting me.”

Eddy said she felt odd running a story about herself in the Chronicle. So, I’ll leave you with evidence of authorship in the fourth wall I just broke (a term she learned about during her time living in Sumter and joining the troupe at Sumter Little Theatre). This is an award I myself was named to, eons ago, seemingly (five, but I’ll leave you to calculate all that’s happened since 2021), and Eddy is five years younger than I was at the time.

She takes on similar roles in different ways and different roles in her own way.

And, in an industry that is as critical as it is fluid, that’s entirely the point.

To read more about Eddy and the other E&P 2026 News Trailblazers, visit editorandpublisher.com.