Byrhonda Lyons

Byrhonda Lyons is an investigative reporter at CalMatters, a nonprofit newsroom that covers California politics and policy. She reports on systematic failures across California’s courts and criminal justice system. Lyons creates stories in various formats to reach different audiences, from TikTok to long-form television stories to written articles. Her work has led to change across California. 

Recently, Lyons' reporting on California's conservatorship system resulted in a Superior Court Judge being reassigned, and a new judge cracking down on conflicts of interest in Ventura County. In addition, the California DMV changed its policies after her reporting exposed that the agency was collecting millions of dollars from vehicle auctions without notifying owners. 

Lyons was a 2019 recipient of a National Headliner Award. She has been nominated for an Emmy Award and was a finalist for the 2024 Best Investigative Journalism Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and Arkansas's oldest historically Black college, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.