Jackson Forderer (Co-Coordinator): Jackson Forderer received his B.A. in 2002 from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he studied Art History and Asian Studies. He then worked for a non-profit media arts organization in Minneapolis, with responsibilities including curation for Asian film festivals and teaching a Hmong youth group photography. In his years at St. Olaf, Forderer studied abroad in Thailand, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. His photographic experience includes volunteering for the Minnesota Center for Photography, and working as a freelance photographer various Twin Cities publications. He started his MA program in photojournalism at MU in 2004.

Meghan Lyden (Co-Coordinator): Meghan Lyden graduated in 2000 from Providence College in Rhode Island, with a B.S. in Business Management. She joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and worked as a Direct Service Advocate in a battered women's shelter in Anchorage, Alaska for three years before beginning the MA program in photojournalism at MU in the fall of 2004. Lyden was also a co-coordinator of the 2004 Pictures of the Year International Competition and most recently completed a photo editing internship with the Newseum in Washington, DC.

Rita Reed (Director): Rita Reed has served as Director of the College Photographer of the Year competition for the past five years. She is an Associate Professor in the Photojournalism sequence of the Missouri School of Journalism. Prior to joining the University of Missouri faculty, Reed worked as a photojournalist for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. She was the 1993 recipient of the NPPA/Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant.

Brett Slaughter (Web Administrator): Brett Slaughter has been an undergraduate at the University of Missouri since 1999. A sergeant in the Army, Slaughter took a year off school to serve in Iraq. He is a self taught web-programmer, learning Internet technologies and programming during his time at MU. He has been responsible for maintaining this website year-round since 2003.