Conor Knighton
Conor Knighton is a CBS Sunday Morning correspondent and Emmy Award winner who shares witty, heartfelt stories of America and its people.
5-time Emmy Award winner
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National Park Nerd
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Morning Person
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5-time Emmy Award winner • National Park Nerd • Morning Person •
More about Conor
Conor Knighton is a national correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning—the country’s #1 morning news show—and the author of The New York Times Bestseller Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park.
His reports for CBS Sunday Morning have covered everything from the Scandinavian obsession with salty licorice to what it’s like to wake up on Wake Island, one of America’s most remote military bases. He’s the creator and producer of “On the Trail,” a series about the U.S. national parks, and “Island Hopping,” a series of segments set on islands across the world, from St. Pierre to the Seychelles.
Conor has won five Emmy Awards as part of the Sunday Morning team and a Los Angeles Area Emmy for his work on KCET's SoCal Connected. His feature reporting has also earned a National Headliner Award and an LA Press Club Award.
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An avid traveler on and off the job, Conor has produced stories from India, Nicaragua, The United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic, Iceland, and Austria. He’s hosted and produced shows for AMC, Biography, EW Scripps, and Current TV, and his commentary has been featured on CNN, HLN, TV Guide, MTV, E!, and Oxygen.
A graduate of Yale University, Conor grew up in Charleston, West Virginia and currently resides in Seattle, WA. He remains especially fond of Tudor’s Biscuit World, pepperoni rolls, and Mountain Stage.
Speaking Topics
Conservation
Exploration
Nature
Culture
Watch Conor in action
Presentations
Leave Only Footprints
When Conor Knighton set off to explore America’s “best idea,” a broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery. The plan he’d cooked up might have gone a bit overboard. Over the course of a year, Conor visited every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion. The Emmy award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent invites us along on a whirlwind tour, highlighting unexpected stories, colorful characters, and profound lessons he unearthed along the way.
“When I set out to spend a year exploring “America’s Best Idea,” I was worried the whole thing might be my worst idea. The national parks ended up changing my life.”
– Conor Knighton