Brent McDonald, a senior video journalist for The New York Times, reports, shoots, and edits documentary videos for nytimes.com. In 2014, he was voted POYi Multimedia Photographer of the Year for a body of work including two half-hour documentaries: Hers to Lose, about Christine Quinn's failed bid for mayor of New York City, and The Trials of Jacob Mach, about a former Sudanese lost boy's journey through the Atlanta Police Academy.
Since joining The Times in 2005, as one of the first members of the newsroom's video operation, McDonald has reported compelling human stories on a wide range of issues and events, including reconstruction after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, heroin addiction, homelessness, immigration, banking reform, and the Boston Marathon bombing. Before coming to The Times, he was an independent documentary producer and cameraman in Oakland, California, working for such venues as PBS Frontline/World, NOVA, and the Times-Discovery Channel.
McDonald is a recipient of the Deadline Club Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award (team coverage), and the best video award from the Society of Business Editors and Writers. He has contributed to projects that won the Online Journalism Award, the IRE Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize. His work has been twice nominated for a national Emmy.
Originally from Mahomet, Illinois, McDonald studied art history and photography at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and received his master's degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. In January, McDonald took a post in The Times' Chicago bureau covering the American Midwest.
