"The AFPC-USA Club Provides That Space for the Community to Come Together and Learn from One Another."

Willy Lowry (Canada), AFPC-USA Professional Excellence Awardee 2022.

Willy Lowry is a Senior US correspondent at The National in Washington, DC, traveling across the country to cover the biggest news stories for an international audience. He is the recipient of a Professional Excellence Award from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (AFPC-USA). Previously he worked as a multimedia producer in Abu Dhabi, where he covered stories throughout the region—including the fall of ISIS in Eastern Syria, the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka and historic protests in Lebanon. As a freelancer in Tanzania, he produced stories for AJ+, CNN, The New York Times, National Geographic and VOA News. He started his career at CBC News in Montreal. He

Willy Lowry from Canada received his award from Krista Pilot, Senior VP, Global External Communications & Strategy for PepsiCo, during the Annual Foreign Press Awards Ceremony on December 15, 2022, in New York.

You have been selected as one of the Professional Excellence Awardees for 2022-2023 by the Association and Club of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA. How does that make you feel, and what message do you want to share with the community of foreign correspondents in the US?

I’m thrilled and humbled to have been selected as one of the Professional Excellence Awardees for 2022-2023 by the Association and Club of Foreign Correspondents in the US. The US can be such an overwhelming country to live and work in and especially to cover. It’s so big, and there is so much news that it can be hard as a foreign correspondent to orientate oneself. My message to the community is simple: find the stories that are important to you and to your audience and pursue them with abandon.

What do you see as essential in the role that the Association and Club of Foreign Press Correspondents play in support of the community of foreign journalists in America? 

I think it is so crucial that foreign correspondents have a focal point and a place to build a network and community here in the US, and this is why I believe it is so important that the Association and Club of Foreign Press Correspondents provide that space for the community to come together and learn from one another.

What do you consider to be the most challenging aspect of your job as a US-based foreign correspondent? 

The hardest part of my job is filtering out the barrage of daily news and focusing on longer form, more detail oriented stories that I find so fulfilling to tell. I’m beyond lucky that my editor at The National, Tom Watkins, helps me carve out time to dedicate to enterprise journalism and encourages me to get out and tell the stories of everyday Americans in new and exciting ways.

What is the best way for a foreign journalist to succeed as a US correspondent?
I think it is important for any foreign correspondent anywhere in the world to fundamentally understand the place that you are and to seek out not just the experts and politicians but the people who actually are affected by the news and policy agendas we so often report on. Get out of Washington when you can and explore this big, crazy, and exciting country.

What has been the most challenging or complex story you have covered from the US as a foreign journalist?

I think trying to understand the ongoing political divisions that run so deep in this country, as well as the social unrest that continues to simmer, has been a really important part of my baptism as a foreign correspondent here in the US. 

What criteria do you use to select the stories you think are worthwhile to cover?

I don’t have any set criteria for how I select stories. I tend to strive to tell stories from the perspective of the people who are affected, whether that is the farmer who can no longer feed her cows because climate change has left the rivers near her ranch dry or the fisherman whose island is slowly disappearing. 

What would you have done differently if you had started your career in journalism?

I think journalism is a journey. Every day may be a grind, but it is different than the day before. I’ve been so fortunate to travel the world and meet and speak with so many people who have welcomed me into their homes and worlds, and I really wouldn’t change anything.