User:Deon Hampton

Deon J. Hampton (born October 9, 1980), an award-winning journalist, is a municipal reporter for Newsday in New York. He has had reporting stints at the Bergen Record in New Jersey and Tulsa World newspaper in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His work has included playing an integral role in covering the nation's largest E-Coli outbreak as well as the deaths of legendary pop icons Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Other reporting jobs included a one-year stint at the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper and the Denver Weekly News. During his time with the World, Hampton held several reporting positions such as general assignment and cops before finally joining the state team to cover local government. He was also host of DeonTV, a bi-weekly web show in which he interviewed Tulsa area high school football athletes. But his biggest success came in 2010 when he earned first-place in an eight-state regional competition for his contribution to an investigative series titled Suicide: Hidden Epidemic. The previous year, Hampton was a part of a three-member team who won first place in general news from the Oklahoma Associated Press. The award was for their coverage of the nation's largest E-Coli outbreak in which Hampton wrote several stories. In March 2008, Hampton was a part of a four-member team who were the sweepstakes winners in the Oklahoma Associated Press awards. The achievement was the highest reporting award in Oklahoma. The team also won first place in general news reporting. The team won the awards for their coverage of Tulsa's ice storm in December 2007, which left the majority of the state under a sheet of ice and without power and electricity. Hampton is a native of Illinois, but was raised in Denver, Colorado. He attended Langston University, graduating with a journalism degree in 2004.