Jon Collins is a senior reporter on the Minnesota Public Radio News race, class and communities team, where he covers criminal justice and Minneapolis politics. He has appeared on media venues including NPR, the BBC, Slate's What Next and Vox's Today Explained. His work has been featured in publications ranging from the New Yorker to Time Magazine.
In 2024-25, Jon served as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Previously, he 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’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. He is a former board member of the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors.
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.