Kevin Cooper

Kevin Cooper, an accomplished photojournalist, editor and publisher from Biloxi, graduated from USM in 1993.  Entering Southern Miss as a freshman without a declared major, Cooper took a photography class and quickly caught the journalism bug.  He eventually earned a staff photographer position at The Student Printz then moved to photo editor and finally to managing editor.  After graduation, he was hired as a staff photographer at The Natchez Democrat.  He joined The Sun Herald in 1995 as a staff photographer, and his work earned him the C.P. Liter award for photojournalism given by the Mississippi and Louisiana Associated Press Managing Editors Association.  Cooper returned to Natchez as a management trainee in 1998.  In 1999, he was named managing editor of the Natchez Democrat and was named editor in 2001.  He became publisher of the Ironton (Ohio) Tribune in 2002, working there until returning to Natchez in 2006, first as associate publisher, and later as publisher.  His work in Ironton and Natchez has earned numerous state, regional, and national awards.  At the time of his induction into the MCJ Hall of Fame in 2010, he continued to serve as publisher in Natchez and also as vice president for its parent company, Boone Newspapers.  He serves on the School of Mass Communication and Journalism Advisory Board.  He was winner of the 2007 Student Printz’s Mississippi Medallion for Excellence in Journalism.