The News & Observer announces 2023 class of summer interns

The News & Observer is proud to announce our 2023 summer interns.

The journalists will work in departments across the newsroom, including on our metro, politics, business, sports and visuals teams. They’ll work alongside our staff covering everything from breaking news and the state legislature to Triangle happenings.

They bring experiences from college publications and regional newspapers and have been leaders at their schools’ news outlets.

One intern, Elizabeth Egan, is working with The N&O as part of the Dow Jones News Fund’s 2023 Internship Program with a focus on business reporting.

In addition to writing for The N&O, The Herald-Sun and the publications’ websites, they’ll receive training and coaching from the newsroom’s journalists. Look for their bylines this summer.

Brianna Atkinson (Metro): Atkinson, a Raleigh native, is graduating this spring from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media. She has worked for The Daily Tar Heel on the University Desk, most recently as a senior writer, and as a reporter, producer and anchor for Carolina Connection, the student-run newscast. She was an intern last summer at The Greensboro News & Record and also has been an intern for the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media.

Anna Connors (Visuals): Connors is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she is a Morehead-Cain Scholar and is double-majoring in journalism and global studies. She is a senior staff photographer for The Daily Tar Heel and was the photo editor in Summer 2022. She has been a freelance photographer for The Chatham News + Record and has had her work published in The Baltimore Sun.

Elizabeth Egan (Business): Egan is graduating this spring from UNC-Chapel Hill with degrees in Media and Journalism and Global Studies. She will be working at The News & Observer as part of the Dow Jones News Fund’s 2023 Internship Program with a focus on business reporting. She has worked at The Daily Tar Heel as a reporter and currently serves as the Community Engagement Editor. She had internships with the Triangle Business Journal in Summer 2022 and with Chapel Hill magazine in Summer 2021.

Madison Hricik (Sports): Hricik is graduating from James Madison University with a degree in journalism and a minor in sports communication. She has worked for The Breeze, JMU’s student newspaper, as a reporter and is currently the Senior Sports Editor. She was an intern last summer at The Buffalo News and has had internships with Valley Baseball League and the Roanoke Rail Yard Dogs. Her work has appeared in The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Jazper Lu (NC Insider/Politics): Lu is a sophomore at Duke University, where he is majoring in political science and public policy analysis. He works for The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, as the Local & National Editor, and coordinated the newspaper’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections. He is active in student government and had internships for Libertas Institute and the Center for Political-Military Analysis.

Makiya Seminera (Politics): Seminera will be graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in international studies and Arabic and a minor in mass communication. She was editor-in-chief of The Florida Alligator, the university’s student newspaper, and is the managing editor of the Florida Political Review. She was a politics intern for The State in the summer of 2022 and works part-time for WUSF’s Fresh Take Florida.