WaPo adds three staffers to Morning Mix

The following excerpt was sent out from The Washington Post’s deputy managing editor Sharif Durhams, Morning Mix editor Gina Harkins and deputy Morning Mix editor Jessica Lipscomb:

We are excited to announce that Kyle Melnick, Praveena Somasundaram and Daniel Wu are joining Morning Mix as staff writers.

Kyle covered high school sports for The Post for five years. He became a leading voice for D.C.-area youth athletics coverage while exploring athletes’ and coaches’ motivators, challenges and personalities on and off the field. He also contributed to professional and college sports coverage and wrote human-interest stories for Inspired Life.

Kyle began his journalism career at the Diamondback, the University of Maryland’s independent student newspaper. There, he served as the sports editor and a staff writer covering Maryland athletics. In college, Kyle interned with USA Today and The Post and covered the Washington Nationals as an associate reporter for MLB.com. His work has been recognized by the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, Associated Press Sports Editors and Society of Professional Journalists.

A Montgomery County, Md., native, Kyle received a multiplatform journalism degree from the University of Maryland in May 2018.

Praveena joined The Post in June as an intern on the General Assignment desk, pitching in on breaking news coverage of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Highland Park mass shooting, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the Seoul crowd crush, among others.

Praveena came to The Post after four years on the staff of the Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s student newspaper, serving as its editor-in-chief during the 2021-22 school year. She led the paper to two Pacemaker awards, won first place in news writing from the North Carolina College Media Association and received UNC-Chapel Hill’s Ernest H. Abernethy Prize in Student Publication Work.

During the previous two summers, Praveena interned at the Dallas Morning News and the Charlotte Observer, writing features and covering breaking news. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in May with degrees in biology and journalism.

Daniel joined The Post as a Metro intern in June, where he reported on elections in Prince George’s County, the resignation of the Montgomery County planning board and a foiled plot to smuggle firearms from Baltimore County to Cameroon.

Before coming to The Post, Daniel interned at the Seattle Times in 2021 and the San Jose Mercury News in 2020.

Daniel studied history and communications at Stanford University, where he served as a reporter, editor and proud flag football captain for the Stanford Daily.