
Julie Smith, born and raised in Jefferson City and grew up less than 10 miles from the current Jefferson City News Tribune office, a place where she has spent 30-plus years covering community events, activities, and life. Smith first became interested in photography when she worked on her high school’s yearbook staff. She bought a Kodak 110 Instamatic from JC Penney in Jefferson City unaware that she was beginning a lifelong journey. After high school graduation, her interest in photography was reignited when she received a Yashica 35mm Rangefinder and taught herself technical and compositional skills by trial and error. In 1982, she started work at Wright Camera Shop in Jefferson City, where she built a relationship with the News Tribune chief photographer, a role she would later take on. In 1989 she started at the News Tribune part-time and was hired full-time a couple months later. In December 2021, Smith will celebrate her 32nd anniversary with the paper, where she has received numerous prestigious awards and recognition, including being nominated for the Zonta Yellow Rose Woman of Achievement, the W.E. Hussman Employee of the Year Award for WEHCO Media’s Palmer Division of newspapers, Jefferson City’s Chamber of Commerce Exceptional Employee of the Year award, and a parade for “Julie Smith Day.”