NEWS
NORMAN, Okla. – Two University of Oklahoma students in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication will embark on an international sports reporting trip thanks to a prestigious national fellowship and university endowment funding.
Hannah Bryant, a senior from Choctaw, Okla., has received a Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Reporting Fellowship. She will report on women’s softball and international athletic participation leading into the 2028 Summer Olympics.
“Receiving this fellowship is the biggest blessing I could have ever imagined,” Bryant said. “I know it's very competitive, and I know that this country and even this school are just ripe with so many talented young journalists.”
Elle Gedman, a junior from Kansas City, has been selected to join Bryant in the reporting trip thanks to support from Gaylord’s Nicole and Evan H. Katz International Reporting Program, which also facilitates OU’s participation in the Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium.
“It's such a great opportunity to have something with the Pulitzer name attached to it,” Gedman said. “I feel very lucky that I was selected for this.”
The Nicole and Evan H. Katz International Reporting Program was established in 2022 through a $1 million gift from the Jerold B. Katz Foundation. Each year, Gaylord students are encouraged to submit story proposals to the Pulitzer Center, with students from the college selected to pursue their story through the fellowship.
As part of their reporting project, the two women aim to travel this summer and talk to softball players, coaches and fans, among others. Their work will examine the athlete experience and pathways to international competition, using both print media and on-camera broadcasting to share stories from the trip.
“I love the human elements behind sports, as well as the intersection of sports with culture and with politics,” Bryant said. “It goes a lot deeper than what you just see as a product on the field.”
“This is going to be such an amazing opportunity because it'll combine my love of sports broadcasting and storytelling,” Gedman said. “And I absolutely love traveling. My life goal is to be able to travel the world.”
The students expect to finish reporting by the end of the summer, with the goal of getting their work published in news outlets. From there, they could continue reporting on athletes: Bryant’s dream career is a sportswriter, building on her many years as a sports fan, while Gedman hopes to become a sideline reporter or sports storyteller utilizing social media.
Bryant’s time at OU has taught her to have an open mindset and the value of showing up for others and accepting their help. Bryant also emphasized how important Gaylord was in acclimating her to the rapidly evolving world of journalism, where reporters often take on more roles in their work.
“I would just tell young people pursuing journalism to let go of any fear or apprehension that they have about it,” Bryant said. “Because even though the landscape is changing so fast, that also means that there are new opportunities – new jobs even – being created that people couldn't have imagined a few years before.”
Gedman said Gaylord has led to valuable career opportunities and helped her figure out her passions, such as by covering Sooner gamedays and working with other journalists. She has also felt supported by faculty as she pursues a media career leaning into content creation.
“I'm really lucky that I'm able to be creative and be myself while still learning all of the important things about journalism,” she said.
This story was updated on July 6, 2026, to reflect Elle Gedman's participation in the reporting project.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
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