Meet Jon Collins

Jon Collins is a senior reporter on the MPR News race, class and communities team, where he covers criminal justice and Minneapolis politics.   

Jon’s first professional journalism job was covering the Minnesota Legislature for a network of newspapers on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota. He also worked as an editor and reporter at Southwest Minneapolis Patch, the Minnesota Independent and has freelanced for a variety of publications.   

In 2024-25, Jon is serving as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He also served as a John Jay/H.F. Guggenheim reporting fellow in 2020 and as a Dart Center gun violence fellow in 2017.  

Jon and his team have won several awards and distinctions including a Peabody Award and top honors at the Third Coast International Audio Festival for “74 Seconds,” an MPR News podcast which covered the killing of Philando Castile and trial of Officer Jeronimo Yanez; a National Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor; and an Eric Sevareid​​ Award from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association for a multimedia project on Minnesota's opioid​​ epidemic.  

Jon received a bachelor's degree in journalism and history from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He is an avid gardener and longtime resident of south Minneapolis.   

You find Jon Collins on X, Threads, Instagram and on his website.