FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Adam Beam, an award-winning government and politics writer at The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., is joining The Associated Press as its lead Statehouse reporter in Kentucky.
Beam, 31, will be based at the Statehouse bureau in Frankfort. He comes to the AP after nine years at The State, where he covered law enforcement, state and local government, and politics, including the administration of Gov. Nikki Haley and the state’s GOP presidential primary in 2012. His work has won honors from the South Carolina Press Association six times since 2006, and in 2008, he was named winner of the Ambrose E. Gonzales Award for Distinguished Journalism, named for the co-founder of The State.
The announcement was made Wednesday by South Region Editor Lisa Marie Pane and interim news editor Joe Danborn.
“Adam is tenacious and well-versed on covering politics in a rough-and-tumble state,” Pane said. “He’ll bring that laser-eyed focus and drive to dig beneath the surface to a state that is just as fascinating.”
He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina.