Jim Cook Jr.

Jim Cook Jr. (born August 25, 1987 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a soldier in the United States Army, as well as a journalist and playwright. In 2012, Cook ran a successful election campaign by only using social media.

Cook graduated from Rowan University in May 2010 and joined the South Jersey Times as a news reporter in November.

In September 2012, Cook wrote and produced "Roundabout: A New Amusement," a play about the history of the Levoy Theatre. The play was performed for the theater's grand opening gala.

Around 10 p.m. the night before the general 2012 election, Cook launched a last-minute bid with no money and less than 24 hours to win a seat on the Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District school board of education. Later that month, it was announced that Cook had won the seat by only using eight status updates on Facebook and a small number of tweets on Twitter.

Due to his position as an editor, Cook was urged by the South Jersey Times to decline the BOE appointment, to which he agreed.

In 2013, Cook starred as Enjolras in Les Miserables, and Private Hennesey in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues at the Levoy Theatre.

On Oct. 3, 2013, Cook announced his departure from the South Jersey Times and his enlistment into the United States Army. Shortly after departing the South Jersey Times, Cook began blogging for the United States Army. He completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina on February 20, 2014.

From 2010 to 2013 at the South Jersey Times (then The News of Cumberland County), Cook worked closely with former 1981 NFL Baltimore Colt defensive lineman Anthony Bubba Green on a series investigating the city of Baltimore, Md. in the electrocution death of Green's daughter Deanna in Druid Hill Park in 2006. The series — along with various legal proceedings— assisted in the creation of the Deanna Camille Green Rule, which requires electric companies in Maryland to survey for contact voltage (stray electricity). The overall intention of the rule is to prevent accidental electrocutions.

The series — later titled Battling Stray Electricity: A family's journey — received a 2010 New Jersey Press Association award in Public Service.

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (2010)

• Roundabout — A New Amusement (2012)

• New Jersey Press Association 2010 | Lloyd P. Burns Award for Public Service

• New Jersey Press Association 2012 | Breaking News