STAFF
Publisher/Owner | Hunter Dawkins
Associate Publisher/Senior Reporter | Calvin Ishee
Assignment Editor/Photographer | Brian Lamar
ABOUT PUBLISHER/OWNER HUNTER DAWKINS
- Dawkins is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, having been raised in the Pineville community from being three years old until he graduated high school.
- The publisher graduated from St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis with an Honors Diploma in 2001 and was the recipient of a community scholarship at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. where he was a columnist for the college newspaper, The Tower, and worked in the United States Congress from 2001-2002.
- After earning a bachelor degree with honors in political science and minor in Media Studies/Theology from Catholic in 2005, Dawkins worked for the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office in Jackson as the Public Relations Assistant in communication with the local newspapers throughout the state from 2005-2006.
- Dawkins returned to Washington, D.C. as U.S. Member of Congress staff from 2006-2008 while pursuing graduate school at George Washington University. Once earning a Masters Degree in Legislative Affairs from GW in 2008, Dawkins returned home working as a senior health care specialist for the Mississippi State Department of Health in Gulfport.
- Dawkins made a career change to step into the classroom for the next seven years as a teacher and athletic coach in Mississippi and Louisiana, gaining his certified teaching license in 2010. While teaching, the publisher began high school sports coverage for a few local newspapers.
- After leaving the classroom, Dawkins began working for multiple newspapers in coverage of sports, local government, and advertising sales in Louisiana and Mississippi.
- In 2017, Dawkins purchased The Gazebo Gazette and has never looked back. The paper has won 30 awards during this time frame; including the prestigious National Newspaper Association Metro Idea Award in 2020, the Mississippi Press Association’s Silver Dollar Idea and Community Service Awards.
- Dawkins has one son; Colby Jay, 12.
WAYS TO REACH US
Mailing Address: 517 W. North Street, Suite 100, Pass Christian, MS 39571
Email: thegazebogazette@gmail.com
Phone: 228-224-6781
Twitter: @gazebogazette
Facebook: facebook.com/thegazebogazette