Challenge Trek Team

Lee Hancock works for the regional desk of the Dallas Morning News. A reporter with the newspaper since 1987, she's covered stories ranging from the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, to the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in Washington D.C. and New York. Her overseas assignments include stories from Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Jordan in 1990, 1991 and 1992 on the Persian Gulf crisis and war and its aftermath; and stories from Pakistan in 2001 on U.S. military actions in Afghanistan.

Her work has been featured on CNN, Court TV, ABC’s Nightline and Good Morning America, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC World News Service and PBS Newshour. She has won a number of awards, including the Texas Headliners Foundation star reporter of the year, Texas Headliners Foundation investigative report of the year and Texas APME awards for breaking news reporting and community service. Before joining the News, Lee worked at the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., and the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Ms.

A native of Mississippi, she grew up roaming rivers in the Arkansas Ozarks and went to college in the mountains of Tennessee, graduating with honors in 1981 from the University of the South. She and her husband Steve and their six-year-old daughter Erin live near Tyler. They spend most of their vacation time outdoors, including canoeing in the Canadian wilderness, hiking in the mountain West, sailing and scuba diving. .