By Erica Thompson -

Now a daily news anchor for WBZ-TV in Boston, Emmy Award-winning journalist and University of Washington Communication alumna Lisa Hughes (B.A., 1990) still recognizes Seattle as a crucial component in her education, career, and even her family.

Despite growing up in Moscow, Idaho, and having a Washington State University professor as a father, Hughes fell in love with Seattle and knew she wanted to go to the UW by the time she was in eighth grade. After spending her freshman year at the University of Idaho to get her grades up, Hughes transferred to the UW.

“I feel like having to navigate a larger campus and getting to know people from all over the country, having spent my whole life in the Northwest, was great exposure to the wide world,” Hughes said.

After being an anchor and reporter in Boise, Idaho, and Coos Bay, Ore., Hughes began working for KIRO-TV in Seattle in 1995, where she earned her first Emmy Award for Hard News Story in 1996. The News and Documentary Emmy Awards is a major national broadcast journalism competition that promotes journalistic excellence to the best news reports and documentary films aired on national television, or streamed over the Internet each year.

“To come back to Seattle and to be working in that market was so exciting for me,” Hughes said. “I was so happy to be there and I love the people I worked with, so that (award) was really meaningful.”

Her most memorable story from Seattle was covering the Pang warehouse fire, as well as the Oklahoma City bombing.

“At that point in my career, that was the biggest story I had ever covered and I was equally touched by the people I met there,” Hughes said. “I still think about them and that really was a transformative experience.”

After working for a short time as a correspondent for CBS Newspath, the CBS-TV Station Group’s satellite news service, Hughes moved to Boston to become WBZ-TV’s daily news anchor in 2000. In her first year there, she was named Best Newcomer in TV by Boston Magazine and Best News Anchor by the Improper Bostonian. Later, Hughes received another Emmy Award for On-Camera Talent Reporter in 2008 and won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her at-home interviews with the 2007 candidates running for governor.

It was clear that being in a new place was not going to stop Hughes from making an impact. Despite covering a little more politics and being considered “the new girl” for about five years, she found many parallels between Seattle and Boston.

“The cities are very similar in the sense that they are beautiful cities with a highly educated population where higher education is really important,” Hughes said. “And people are really into their sports teams, both college and pro.”

Hughes said that when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 after an 86-year drought, it “honestly was like the whole city had won the lottery.”

“I would say that really stands out in my mind, and since then the Patriots, the Celtics, and the Bruins have all won a championship, and to be able to be a part of those celebrations was really fun,” Hughes said.

Hughes added that it breaks her heart that the Sonics aren’t in Seattle anymore and that she still wears her vintage T-shirt even though the logo is cracking off.

Although she considers the Red Sox win to be one of the most memorable stories since moving to Boston, Hughes said on the other end of the spectrum, nothing was bigger than covering the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Hughes coincidentally flew over the World Trade Towers that morning on her way to a meeting in New York.

“I got off the plane, walked through La Guardia and one of the towers had been hit,” she said. “While I was on my way into the city, the second tower was hit.”

Hughes spent five days in New York covering the tragedy.

In addition to her work at the station, Hughes is involved in a number of community organizations and charities. She is on the board of First Literacy and she often collaborates with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s office for Read Boston events.

“As an anchor in a city like Boston, you are given a lot of responsibility,” Hughes said. “I feel like I’ve been really lucky in my life to have worked at good places, with good people and had incredible experiences and if I can lend my energy, voice and effort to help nonprofit groups, then I am happy to do it.”

She has also contributed to events at the Perkins School for the Blind, the Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Clubs, Horizons for Homeless Children and more.

“I really don’t think there is a better way to connect with a community than being involved with the groups that are working to make life better for other people,” Hughes said. “Those groups attract a very dynamic, driven crowd and I felt in many ways that I got to know the city because of those people who educated me about what their group does in the community…and included me in their effort in some way.”

In a reciprocal sense, Hughes said she thinks people come to local television for a sense of community, where everyone is experiencing the same excitement or concern.

“I would say the most rewarding part of my job is being involved in helping people understand where they live and getting to work with the people I work with,” Hughes said. “That was true definitely in Seattle where I still miss my co-workers every day and here too where I work with a wonderful group of people.”

Although Hughes is passionate about her job and charity work, she said family always comes first. A few years ago Hughes, along with her husband and daughter, went to the home-opener UW football game against Syracuse.

“It was a beautiful day and my daughter was so excited,” Hughes said, “and somebody offered to take our picture so we got a great photo before the game started.”

About two years later, after arguing with her husband about what photo to choose, Hughes put the photo from Husky Stadium on the cover of the book they were putting together for potential adoptive families to look at as they were hoping to adopt a child. In July 2011, they got a call that they had been chosen by a birth mother from Kentucky.

Not knowing why they were chosen, Hughes and her husband flew to Kentucky. After enjoying a great conversation with the birth mother, Hughes finally asked, “I’m just curious, what was it?”

The woman replied, “My boyfriend and I are huge football fans.”

“Ah ha!” Hughes said. “Not only did the Huskies win that game but it played a huge role in the future of our family. So when Husky Stadium is rebuilt and reopened, we are coming back for a game.”