NPR & NPR STATIONS SWEEP ONLINE JOURNALISM RADIO AWARDS

At the Online News Association [link] (ONA) awards ceremony held on Saturday 9/26 in Los Angeles public radio did very, very well. NPR News and NPR stations took home five major awards. No commercial radio company was among the winners.

The Online News Association is the world’s largest association of online journalists.  It serves as a catalyst for innovation and storytelling across all platforms. Members range from old school print dynasties such as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Toronto Globe and Mail to digital news provides such as Reported.ly [link] and Quartz [link].

The strong showing by NPR and NPR Stations is significant because it validates public radio’s increasingly robust online reporting and other multiple platform efforts.  Other noncom winners were The Texas Tribune, Frontline and BBC News.

See the complete list of winners here [link].

 PUBLIC RADIO’S WINNERS

NPR and ProPublica shared the marquee Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award with an entry from The Huffington Post. Insult to Injury: America’s Vanishing Worker Protections [link] was heard on NPR stations nationwide in March 2015. The lead reporters were Michael Grabell of ProPublica and Howard Berkes of NPR.

Image courtesy of ProPublica

The online component [link] is an elegant, fact filled site with details, trend lines and personal stories. NPR and ProPublica call the project The Demolition of Workers’ Comp and describe it this way:

 

Over the past decade, states have slashed workers’ compensation benefits, denying injured workers help when they need it most and shifting the costs of workplace accidents to taxpayers.

Other public radio organizations honored were:

KBIA News, Columbia, Missouri [link]

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small Size Staff

As the winner of one of three General Excellence Awards, KBIA took home a $6,166 prize, courtesy of the Gannett Foundation.

KPCC, Los Angeles

Planned News Events, Medium Size Staff
MakeAlCare — The Evolution of One Voter, produced by Meghan McCarty [link]

NPR Visuals, Washington DC

Planned News Events, Large Size Staff
Election Party! [link] 

KERA-FM, Dallas

Topical Reporting, Medium Size Staff
The Broken Hip [link] produced by Lauren Silverman, Eric Aasen, Ryan Tainter, Dane Walters, Jeff Whittington and KERA News Staff

 Congratulations to the winners.  You make all of us who work in noncom media proud!