Al Tompkins is Senior Faculty/Broadcast and Online at The Poynter Institute. More than 20,000 people a day read his online journalism story idea column, Al's Morning Meeting, on Poynter.org.

Tompkins teaches in seminars at Poynter and teaches at workshops and conferences on the road. He has been a presenter at national conventions for IRE, RTDNA, NABJ, NAHJ, AAJA, Unity, NLGJA, PRNDI and NPPA. Since 1998, he has taught seminars and workshops in 41 states and four countries.

Tompkins is the author of "Aim For The Heart: A Guide for TV Producers and Reporters," which is being used by more than 70 universities as their main broadcast writing textbook.

He joined Poynter in 1998 after 25 years as a journalist, including serving as a reporter, investigative reporter, director of special projects and investigations and then was appointed news director, WSMV Nashville. Under his direction, WSMV was Nashville's leading news station. His hour-long documentary, “Saving Stefani,” was featured as a special Dateline NBC and was awarded the 1999 Clarion Award.

During his two and a half decades as a journalist, Tompkins has won The National Emmy, The Peabody Award (group award), the Japan Prize, The American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel for Court Reporting, seven National Headliner Awards, two Iris Awards and the Robert F. Kennedy Award for international reporting.

From 1999-2006, Tompkins and Bob Steele co-authored four editions of the Radio Television Digital News Association's Newsroom Ethics workbook and tape series, which was presented in workshops in 26 U.S. cities.

Read his complete Poynter profile here.