Meet the 2027 Board Candidates

Clarice Bajkowski is chief creative officer of The 19th, where she leads an award-winning creative team and guides the visual and strategic direction of the brand to reflect the diverse voices and communities The 19th serves. Since joining in 2020, she has built The 19th's brand from the ground up, earning multiple Society for News Design Awards of Excellence along the way. Her earlier brand work includes Fortune 500 clients such as Microsoft, Dell and HP. She is a 2025 Poynter Executive Fellow in the Media Transformation Challenge and a 2023 graduate of Poynter's Leadership Academy for Women in Media. She holds an MFA in design, along with a BA in studio art and a BA in advertising from the Texas Creative program at the University of Texas at Austin's Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations.

Tyson Bird has been part of SND since his days studying Journalism Graphics at Ball State, and he has stayed involved ever since, volunteering at workshops and competitions and entering the digital contest (almost) every year. He started as a page and graphic designer in local news, taught himself to code, and carried those fundamentals into product roles at national and regional news organizations. He later worked alongside Pentagram on a ground-up redesign of the Texas Highways Magazine digital experience, building features and interactive experiences that extended the print product online.

Today, Tyson makes AI tools for journalists at American City Business Journals. His background in design made him a stronger product manager by instilling a habit he brings to everything he builds: starting with the reader.

Ted du Bois is a Dutch information designer and graphics editor with over ten years of experience turning complex research and news into clear visual stories. He works daily with journalists in the fast-paced newsroom at Trouw, one of the Netherlands' national newspapers. He is also the co-founder of Tjirp, a visual storytelling studio where he combines hands-on design with project leadership. He enjoys developing ideas and bringing together people from different backgrounds and disciplines. He also explores and experiments with new technologies, such as AI, to find ways to improve how people work.

Ted's background extends beyond visual journalism. He holds an MSc in Biology, specializing in natural resource management and science communication. His inquisitive and analytical mindset, connections to the scientific community, and passion for innovation and nature conservation shape his perspective and approach to his work. He seeks to understand the story beneath the surface of a dataset, then tell it in the most effective way to reach a broad audience.

Naasha Dotiwala is a team leader in the Center for Community Journalism department within the USA Today Co. Design Center. She has attended SND events since 2023, twice as a volunteer and once as a judge, and deeply appreciates the world of design the organization showcases each year. This year, she joined the Competition Committee to better understand every aspect of the competition.

Naasha is seeking a board position to give back to an organization that provides a place for visual journalism to be admired and appreciated, recognizing the effort behind news design that often goes unseen. SND has provided her with knowledge, inspiration, and guidance, and she hopes to bring her professional experience to the board to strengthen the organization for all members and build a stronger community of visual storytellers.

Dakota Hendren is a freelance designer and photographer. She is a recent journalism and political science graduate of Michigan State University, specializing in editorial design and photography. She was the co-president of the Edmund C. Arnold Chapter of Society for News Design at Michigan State University.

Marco Hernandez has worked as visual journalist for over 20 years in media outlets around the world, including Reuters in Singapore, La Nación in Costa Rica, and The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. In 2021, Marco joined The New York Times as Graphics Editor to cover a wide range of topics using illustration, 3D, maps, video, diagrams and dataviz in general for storytelling. Throughout his career, Marco has garnered hundreds of awards from international organizations in Europe, Asia, and America. Marco was named "World's Best Designer" by SND in 2021, he achieved consecutive Pulitzer Prize wins in 2023 and 2024, and received the 2023 Majeri Award for innovation and leadership in journalism from Ball State University. Since 2025, Marco has been part of the Board of Directors of the SND, where he actively promotes initiatives to support students in the fields of journalism, design, and related careers.

Alex Palmer is a designer and graphics journalist based in Copenhagen. Before relocating to Denmark, Alex worked as design lead and graphics journalist for ABC News in Australia for nearly nine years.

Alex has worked across breaking news and investigations, covering everything from climate, LGBT issues, and geopolitics to music and culture. Alex's work includes data visualisation, cartography, motion, and 3D, as well as front-end web development.

Alex has won a number of SND awards over the years for design work and holds the organisation in high regard.

Raúl Rodríguez is an Infographic designer with more than 20 years experience on this field, mostly in newspaper.