Yuma's Best 2012: Anna Chaulk

Her loyal viewers consider Anna Chaulk the best local television personality in Yuma, but she'd be the first to say the credit belongs to others besides her.

Without a competent and dedicated team of journalists at KECY FOX 9 News, she says, she wouldn't be able to do her job as managing editor and news anchor for the station.

“My success on the air is really due to these people: Dylan Casiano, Eric Sawyer, Delbert Vega, Vanessa Herrera, Mauricio Marin, Eduardo Santiago and Anna Hayes,” said Chaulk, named by most respondents in the Yuma's Best, the Yuma Sun's annual reader poll, as the area's best TV personality.

“When I'm on the air, I'm delivering what they've worked on all day. It really is the best newsroom I've ever worked in.”

Chaulk, a longtime Yuman with a varied background in journalism and teaching, and other members of the KECY news crew are coming up on their one-year anniversary of broadcasting the news to area viewers.

From the beginning, the KECY staff has forged tight bonds as a news team, thanks to a shared commitment to provide residents the information they want and need to know, Chaulk says.

“At the end of the day, we come together. We have a fantastic work dynamic. Just from the get-go we have had a fantastic work team.”

Born in Colorado, Chaulk moved to Yuma with her family while she was still in elementary school. Graduating from Kofa High School, she attended Arizona Western College and then the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, from which she earned a bachelor's degree in English. She also has a degree in paralegal studies from the College of Southern Nevada.

Having completed her education, she spent 10 years in broadcasting in Las Vegas, gaining experience in that time covering sports as well as news.

Taking a break from the news business, she taught English in Japan from 2007 to 2009. Although having returned to broadcast journalism, Chaulk continues to make time for education, serving as the instructor of Intro to Broadcasting class at AWC.

“Teaching AWC students reminds me why I got into television in the first place.”

Chaulk says her commitment — and that of the other members of the KECY team — is to provide information to viewers that is relevant to their lives, in a way that is “fair and forthright.”

“It's really nice to know what we do matters to people. It's really nice to be recognized for the work we do.”