Bio
Damaso Reyes is a distinguished editor, journalist and photographer with a career spanning three decades.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he embarked on his journalism journey as a teenager, motivated by what he saw as a lack of representation in the industry.
Since 1996, Damaso has been a dedicated contributor to the New York Amsterdam News, where he currently serves as the Executive and Investigative Editor. His tenure at this historic publication underscores his commitment to amplifying Black voices and addressing critical issues affecting marginalized communities.
He founded the Blacklight, the award winning first investigative unit at a legacy Black newspaper in an effort to both expand the Amsterdam News’ ability to serve its community and to provide opportunities for journalists of color who are all too often shut out of doing investigative work.
Throughout his career, Damaso’s work has been news organizations, including The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Der Spiegel, the Miami Herald, Forbes, and The Irish Times. His assignments have taken him across the globe to countries including Rwanda, Iraq, Indonesia, Tanzania, and various regions in the United States and Europe, reflecting his versatility and dedication to uncovering stories that matter.
Damaso’s photographic contributions are showcased in notable books including “Black: A Celebration of a Culture” and “Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War,” highlighting his ability to capture profound human experiences through his lens.
His contributions as an editor and journalist have been recognized by numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including: a 2026 John S. Knight journalism fellowship at Stanford University; the 2024 NABJ Ida B. Wells Award; a 2024 NABJ Salute to Excellence Award; a 2024 Deadline Club Award for Digital Video Reporting; Arthur F. Burns and Holbrooke Fellowships from the International Center for Journalists; a Knight-Luce Fellowship from the USC Annenberg School of Journalism; an Immigration Reporting Fellowship from the French American Foundation; and grants from the Solutions Journalism Network and the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Damaso is also a Fulbright specialist and an accomplished artist who has exhibited his photographs and multimedia work in over a dozen group and solo exhibitions in Germany, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Turkey and the United States. He was the first Fulbirght artist in residence at Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier and a fellow at Germany’s Akademie Schloss Solitude.