Billy Weeks – 2023 November Speaker
Billy Weeks has worked as a journalist for over 39 years. His career started with the Chattanooga Times in 1984 as a staff photographer. In 1995, he became the Photo Team Leader, and in 1999 he was named Director of Photography/Graphics at The Chattanooga Times Free Press and in 2010 he became an independent documentary photographer working in many countries.
As a photojournalist, Weeks has covered assignments that range from the World Series to small villages in Central America and Asia. In 2016, he was honored to give a TEDx talk “Two Views in Documentary Photography.” In 2023 and 2021 his sports photographs was awarded a top honor in Pictures of the Year International. His photographs of poverty in Honduras were selected as an award of Excellence for editorial photography in the Communication Arts Photography Annual. Additionally, he has won the Gordon Parks International Photography award twice. He was awarded the Freedom of Information award from the Associated Press and over 50 awards for journalism. CNN and Photography District News featured his photographs on baseball in the Dominican Republic and Central America. His work has been exhibited at the New America Foundation in New York City, Hunter Museum of American Art, Art of Photography Show, Slow Exposures, South x Southeast, and several universities.
Weeks is an Associate Lecturer in communication at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an adjunct professor at Southern Adventists University. He has been a visiting speaker at many Universities and a presenter at serval workshops. He believes that not only should journalists cover their assignments, but should also give something back to their profession. Today he lives in Ringgold, Georgia with his wife and a blind Labrador retriever.