KXAN’s Jennifer Sanders is the 2025 Austinite of the Year
AUSTIN (KXAN) — KXAN evening anchor Jennifer Sanders took home the top honor at the 26th annual Austin Under 40 Awards Saturday. She was chosen as the Austinite of the Year from a group of 90 finalists across 18 categories selected not just for their professional achievements but also for their impact on the community.
Jennifer’s work as an experienced, compassionate journalist includes in-depth coverage of issues affecting East Austin, military veterans and local families. Her reporting is just one of many ways Jennifer generously shares her talents and heart to enrich the lives of those in her community.
Jennifer is a long-time mentor and volunteer. She works with young aspiring journalists at the Bertha Sadler Means Young Women’s Leadership Academy and delivers weekend snack packs to students at Norman Sims Elementary School to make sure no child spends the weekend hungry.
She frequently serves as an emcee and moderator for community events, lending her skills to fundraising events for nonprofits and schools, and she is an annual presenter at the Joya T. Hayes Leadership Institute.
She’s volunteered for the American Heart Association for almost a decade in Texas and New York and partners with the Breast Cancer Resource Center. A proud daughter of retired military parents, Jennifer volunteers for Operation Shower, serving military moms-to-be whose partners are deployed.
Jennifer serves on the Board of Regents at one of her alma maters, Texas Lutheran University, and she’s also the chair of the student engagement and experience committee at TLU.
She was selected as a fellow for the Solutions Journalism Network, whose mission is to train journalists how to rigorously report on people working to solve problems in their communities. Most recently, Jennifer was chosen as KXAN’s next investigative fellow. She will begin a six-month, in-house investigative training program this summer.
Congratulations to Jennifer Sanders on this well-deserved honor!