Checkey Beckford is a seasoned, Emmy® Award-winning reporter for NBC 4 New York with nearly 20 year’s experience as a journalist. She covers breaking news and general assignment stories, appearing weekdays at 5 PM, 6 PM and 11 PM. Ms. Beckford’s repor琀椀ng was a key component of NBC 4 New York’s award-winning COVID-19 coverage, honored in Jan- uary 2021 with the pres琀椀gious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for “creat(ing) a 360 view in real 琀椀me of the coronavirus pandemic, with courageous and thorough repor琀椀ng on the virus’s explosion in New York City.” The duPont has long been recognized as the broadcast, documentary, and on-line equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, also awarded by Columbia University. Her commitment to journalis琀椀c excellence has been recognized with two New York Emmys® for her coverage of the 2017 Tribeca terrorist a琀琀acks. She was also presented with ESSENCE Magazine’s “Essen琀椀al Heroes Award,” recognizing her cov- erage of 2020’s COVID-19 outbreak. Throughout her 琀椀me at NBC 4, Ms. Beckford has covered many of the region’s most memorable news stories. In addi琀椀on to the Tribeca a琀琀acks, Ms. Beckford provided breaking news coverage of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, New York City’s ebola scare in 2014, the deadly Metro-North crash in Valhalla in 2015, and the twin mur- ders of NYPD O昀케cers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in 2015. Checkey Beckford joined NBC 4 New York as a general assignment reporter in October 2012 from KOVR CBS13 in Sacra- mento, CA where she served as a live reporter for dayside newscasts. She began her career at WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she was hired as an associate producer. Here, Ms. Beckford was promoted twice in one year to weekend morning producer and then weekday morning producer. Prior to joining KOVR CBS13, Ms. Beckford was a live reporter for WICD/WICS in Champaign/Spring昀椀eld, IL where she shot, wrote, and edited mul琀椀ple stories for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. newscasts. A proud daughter of Jamaica, Ms. Beckford immigrated to the U.S. when she was 昀椀ve. She grew up in Westchester County and Palm Beach County, FL where she a琀琀ended Florida Atlan琀椀c University receiving her bachelor’s degree in Communica- 琀椀ons with Minors in Poli琀椀cal Science and Sociology. In her spare 琀椀me, Ms. Beckford enjoys mentoring young women who aspire to go to college and begin careers in journal- ism. She resides with her family in New Jersey. 14 14