Tom Junod Joins ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com as New Senior Writer

Award-winning journalist Tom Junod has joined ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com as a senior writer. Junod, who joins ESPN from Esquire, will be focused on big-picture, long-range, deeply reported pieces.

One of the most decorated and thoughtful magazine writers of his generation, Junod has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award a record 11 times, winning twice. He has won a James Beard Award for essay writing, and in April 2016, his story "The Death of Patient Zero" won the inaugural June L. Biedler Prize for cancer writing. His work has been widely anthologized in collections including The Best American Magazine Writing, the Best American Sports Writing, the Best American Political Writing, the Best AMERICAN CRIME Writing, and, most recently, the Best American Food Writing.

A graduate of the University of Albany, Junod became a staff writer for Atlanta Magazine in 1987 and began a journalism career that took him to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and GQ and then, in 1997, to Esquire, where he was, for 19 years, Writer-At-Large. For Esquire's 75th Anniversary, the editors of the magazine selected his 9/11 story "The Falling Man' as one of the seven top stories in Esquire's history. He is most proud of the fact that many of the stories he has written over the last two decades - including his profiles of Mister Rogers and his own father - are still avidly read.

"Tom is joining the ranks of what we think is the premiere writing staff in journalism," said Chad Millman, Editorial Director, ESPN Domestic Digital Content. "His stories are incredibly impactful and have the ability to transcend sports, and we are thrilled to have him on board."

"No matter what subject I'm writing about, I've always liked to use my stories to ask larger questions that are of interest to me," adds Junod. "Right now, in America 2016, there's no subject more suited to the asking of provocative, challenging questions than sports. I'm honored to have the opportunity to ask them for ESPN."

Junod resides in Marietta, Georgia and Shelter Island, New York, with his wife and fellow Albany graduate Janet Folk, their daughter Nia, and their pit bull Dexter.