About Me

Andy Yamashita is a sports journalist, recently graduated from the University of Washington where he double majored in journalism and American ethnic studies with an Asian/Pacific American studies concentration. A proud Japanese American, Californian, and Bay Area native, he graduated El Cerrito High School in 2017 and the UW in 2021.

In the first quarter of his freshman year, Yamashita became a contributing writer at The Daily, the University of Washington’s student newspaper. He was promoted to assistant sports editor at the Daily in Jan. 2020, and then again to sports section editor in March 2020. 

In 2019, Yamashita, photographer Conor Courtney, and videographer Parker Singh collaborated to place second nationally in the multimedia sports package category of the Associated College Press Pacemakers with their piece "Life of the Loyal Band: 48 Hours with the Husky Marching Band." He was also awarded the 2019 Pioneer Award for Sports Journalism by the UW Communications Department, and placed 13th nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards for sports reporting that year for his article "Ice cream, candy and Olympic gold."

A year later, he joined the Sports Journalism Institute's Class of 2020 where he was taught by The Athletic's Leon H. Carter, former APSE President Sandy Rosenbush, and the Front Office Sports' Greg Lee Jr. Yamashita then interned for The Denver Post and Sports Editor Scott Monserud, all in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. He again placed in the top-20 nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards for sports reporting, this time for his article "23rd and Welton: The last remnants of Denver's Japanese American Baseball Leagues."

Following his graduation from the UW in June 2021, Yamashita spent the summer interning for The Seattle Times and Sports Editor Paul Barrett, serving mainly as a general assignment sports reporter. Yamashita interned with The Indianapolis Star during the fall of 2021 for Sports Director Jenny Green. He then took a job with the Las Vegas Review-Journal covering UNLV and the Las Vegas Aces in 2022, working for Sports Editors Bill Bradley, Bill Eichenberger and current Sports Editor Al Leiker. Yamashita returned to The Seattle Times to cover UW football in 2024. 

Yamashita’s favorite part of the job is telling the stories of the people in and around sports. Though his father coached collegiate volleyball at Loyola Marymount University and Long Beach State, Yamashita actually credits his enjoyment of sports to his mother, a die-hard Oakland A’s fan. When he isn’t writing, Yamashita — an Eagle Scout — enjoys hiking, backpacking, eating good food, and traveling. He also remains an ardent defender of the Oxford comma.