The photojournalist and communications design major will travel to his native China to report on water pollution programs in underserved areas.
Ethan Wu ’27 has been awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellowship to investigate water pollution efforts near Beijing, returning to the region where he spent his childhood.
A Virginia resident majoring in communication design, Wu grew up in the DaXing area near the capital city until age 12 and has closely followed efforts to clean up the LiangShui (Cold Water) River.
Judges for the Pulitzer Fellowship, a competitive international travel grant awarded to an Elon student journalist each year, noted that Wu’s proposal stood out for its background research and on-the-ground context.
A fluent Mandarin speaker with his own photography business, Wu noted that while air pollution in China receives much attention, less coverage has been given to water quality and to the impact of factory effluent, agricultural runoff, and untreated waste on the region’s rivers, lakes and groundwater. Wu believes much has changed since the conditions he observed in his childhood, when waterways were filled with algae blooms and litter.
“This is an example of when a community and its officials reach an agreement to improve a crucial resource to their well-being and actually work out a beneficial solution,” he said. “However, there are so many towns, especially rural ones, that lack the power, voice or physical ability to improve something as important as a shared waterway.”
Elon University is a long-standing member of the Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium, a network of colleges and universities that support the center’s mission to promote journalism on critical global issues. The organization pairs students with mentors and advises student journalists through the reporting and publication phases. Students from the 39 participating campuses travel to Washington, D.C., to present their projects, and campus partners also benefit from professional journalist grantees who visit partner campuses.
Among his professors and collaborators at Elon News Network, Wu has earned a reputation for being open to a variety of assignments and for his technical dexterity, said Randy Piland, associate teaching professor in Communication Design.
“Ethan’s always willing to take on any photo assignment,” Piland said. “He has a sense for quality. He’s taken it to another level.”
Lorraine Ahearn, assistant professor of journalism, serves as Elon’s liaison to the Pulitzer Center.