Daily Yonder Reporter Named as Finalist for Environmental Reporting Award

Julia Tilton reports on climate and energy for the Daily Yonder and is a multimedia producer for the Center for Rural Strategies.

The Southern Environmental Law Center has named Daily Yonder reporter Julia Tilton as a finalist for the 2026 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award.

“The work of this year’s finalists spans a wide range of environmental issues—from threats to wildlife and shrinking habitats to clean water, environmental injustices affecting Southern communities, and the pressures our region faces from data centers, energy demands, and the accelerating realities of climate change,” the Center wrote in its announcement of finalists.

Tilton’s story, “This Rural Community Fought One of the Country’s Biggest Gas-Powered Data Centers, and Won” featured a grassroots opposition movement that fended off a 2,200-acre data center campus in southern Virginia.

The Center for Rural Strategies is grateful for the Southern Environmental Law Center’s recognition of this important environmental reporting in rural America.