Annika McGinnis

Annika McGinnis is a data and investigative journalist and media innovator from the U.S., based between New York and Uganda, with over a decade of experience. Her stories focus particularly on the environment, health, and social justice.

She is the co-founder of InfoNile, a geojournalism platform and journalists' network focused on data-based stories on water and environment in 10 countries of the Nile Basin. She lived in Uganda leading InfoNile for eight years, during which she spearheaded data and reporting projects on cross-border issues including illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, and foreign land deals. In 2022, she led the development of NileWell, an online platform that connects journalists with environmental scientists and researchers in the Nile Basin. These projects have won awards from Covering Climate Now, the Fetisov Journalism Awards, Africa Digital Media Awards, Uganda National Journalism Awards, and others.

Most recently, she was a Columbia Journalism Investigations reporting fellow at Columbia University in New York, where she investigated the public health impacts of climate-driven flooding across the U.S. She completed a master’s in data journalism at Columbia Journalism School in 2025 and received the Award for Excellence in Computational Journalism and a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship.

McGinnis has previously reported for Reuters, USA TODAY, and McClatchy Newspapers in Washington, D.C. In Uganda, she also helped build the Media Challenge Initiative, a media development nonprofit, and worked at an HIV/AIDS organization as a Global Health Corps fellow. She has undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland in multiplatform journalism, international development, and French.