Victor Blackwell

Victor Blackwell is an Emmy award-winning journalist, correspondent and co-anchor of CNN "This Morning Weekend" with Victor Blackwell and Amara Walker in Atlanta. He is also the host of "First of All" with Victor Blackwell, airing Saturdays at 8aET.

Previously, Blackwell anchored the weekend editions of New Day and CNN Newsroom from the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2020 Blackwell received an Emmy award in the category Outstanding News Analysis: Editorial & Opinion for his commentary “‘Infested,’ He Says,” about President Donald Trump’s description of Rep. Elijah Cummings’ Maryland district – his home district.

Blackwell has reported and anchored on-the-scene for many breaking news stories, including CNN’s Emmy-nominated coverage of the simultaneous shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, as well as the devastation in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian. He also played a pivotal role in the network’s reporting on the protests following the 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks. Blackwell also covered of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma (2017), the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando (2016), protests in his hometown of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray (2015) and the death of Georgia teen Kendrick Johnson (2013), among others.

In 2018 Blackwell marked the 50-year anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death by coordinating an exclusive interview with civil rights icons Ambassador Andrew Young and Reverend Jesse Jackson at the Memphis motel where King was gunned down. This was the first time the two visited together since King’s death.

Blackwell came to CNN in 2012 from WPBF 25 News in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he served as an anchor where he was honored with several regional Emmy nominations, two Telly awards, several Associated Press awards and honors from the Society of Professional Journalists. He also earned the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and the UNITY Award, both from the Radio Television Digital News Association, for a special report on the disproportionate dropout rate amongst young black men.

Prior to his tenure at WPBF, Blackwell worked for WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Fla. He broke into journalism writing for the Community Times newspaper in Columbia, Md. He worked as a producer for Radio11 WBAL in Baltimore and as a co-producer for WHUT-TV in Washington. He also worked for WPMT-TV in York, Penn., and WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, Md.

Blackwell earned a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from Howard University and in 2016 was named one of the University’s Top 150 Distinguished Alumni.