Tom Atwood is an instructor of media production at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Atwood started taking documentary photographs in 1964 with a Kodak Brownie when the Du Quoin Township High School burned down a block from his home. First paying job, in 1967, was as a paperboy for the Du Quoin Evening Call. Last paying job in news: reporting for KSDK-TV St. Louis as the 20th Century ended. He won a Peabody Award in 1993 for "Under the Influence," a documentary for WKRN-TV in Nashville. Atwood has also recorded several albums, including Fire and Sound, released in 2020. He is on the faculty of the Mass Communications Department at SIUE where he teaches courses in documentary media, film, news production, freelancing, audio and video production, among others.