Olivia Reiner, a Philadelphia Eagles beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has been selected as the 2026 Terez A. Paylor Emerging Writer Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).
Reiner, the seventh Paylor Award winner, is the first person affiliated with the Philadelphia Inquirer to receive the award.
The Paylor Award recognizes a young NFL writer who carries on the legacy of Paylor through his or her work ethic, professionalism, and dedication to the craft and commitment to improving diversity in NFL media. Paylor, the former Yahoo! Sports and Kansas City Star football writer, passed away in February 2021 at the age of 37. He joined the Star after graduating from Howard University in 2006 and took over the Kansas City Chiefs beat in 2013. Paylor spent the next seven-plus years covering the NFL and joined Yahoo! Sports in 2018 as a senior writer to cover the league on a national level.
Reiner joined the Philadelphia Inquirer as the Eagles beat reporter in 2023. Before she joined the Eagles beat, she was the Flyers beat reporter at the Inquirer from 2021-23, earning NSMA Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year honors in 2023. Prior to joining the Inquirer, Reiner was the sports multimedia reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (2019-21), where she covered the Packers, Brewers and Bucks. Her video coverage of the Packers earned 2019 APSE top ten honors. She also covered the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for USA Today.
Reiner earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism in 2018 from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
The other 2026 finalists for the Paylor Award were Ashley Bastock (cleveland.com/Cleveland Plain Dealer) and Giana Han (Baltimore Banner).
TEREZ A. PAYLOR EMERGING WRITER AWARD WINNER (Young NFL writer who carries on the legacy of Paylor through his or her work ethic, professionalism, and dedication to the craft and commitment to improving diversity in NFL media): 2021 – Jourdan Rodrigue (The Athletic); 2022 – Jori Epstein (USA Today); 2023 – Tashan Reed (The Athletic); 2024 – Colton Pouncy (The Athletic); 2025 – Katherine Fitzgerald (Buffalo News) and Daniel Oyefusi (ESPN.com); 2026 – Olivia Reiner (Philadelphia Inquirer)