The Banner has named Simone Sebastian as deputy editor, adding an award-winning newsroom leader with 25 years of journalism experience to its editorial leadership team. In this role, Sebastian will oversee much of The Banner’s daily and enterprise news report, including the business team, politics desk, education hub, Baltimore County team, public safety and health desk, and the new narrative, projects and data hub.

Simone Sebastian is The Banner’s new Deputy Editor.
Simone Sebastian is The Banner’s new deputy editor. (Courtesy of Simone Sebastian)

“We searched the country to find someone of Simone’s talent,” said Audrey Cooper, editor in chief of The Banner. “We wanted an exceptional journalist who would challenge us to think bigger, raise the bar for both our daily report and our most ambitious enterprise, and help us produce journalism that deeply resonates with Marylanders. In Simone, we found all of that and more.”

Sebastian recently served as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. Before that, she was the founding editorial director of Capital B, where she helped build one of the country’s most audience-focused nonprofit news organizations. Under her leadership, the organization broke important stories on voting rights, environmental racism, immigration and deportation, criminal justice and health inequities, earning the National Association of Black Journalists’ Best Practices Award in 2024.

Before Capital B, Sebastian managed The Washington Post’s America Desk during coverage of nationwide protests, natural disasters and mass shootings. In 2019, her team was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings, and she co-edited “George Floyd’s America,” a six-part investigative series that won a George Polk Award

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“It is an honor to join the formidable team of journalists at The Banner, which, in just a few years, has proven what nonprofit journalism can accomplish when fueled by fearless reporting and ambitious leadership,” Sebastian said. “My roots and passion have always been in local journalism, providing news that affects everyday people’s everyday lives. I am eager to help The Banner reimagine what journalism can be through creativity, courageousness and dedication to its community.”

Throughout her career, Sebastian’s reporting has appeared in publications including The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. She is also chairwoman of the alumni board at CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

Sebastian will start at The Banner in July.