Michigan Radio has been recognized with five regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in the Large Market Radio category. The station won awards in the Continuing Coverage, Feature Reporting, Investigative Reporting, Hard News, and Use of Sound categories. The Murrow Awards are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) to honor outstanding achievements in electronic journalism. The winning entries from Michigan Radio’s are as follows:
Michigan Radio’s collective work on the Larry Nassar case won the award for Continuing Coverage of a story. The coverage spanned the arrest, court proceedings, sentencing, and fallout of the victimization of young women by the former U.S.A Gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar.
“Protesters Heading Home After Journey to Detention Center Housing Juvenile Migrants,” Tracy Samilton’s report on the protestors who travelled to the Tornillo detention center in Texas to protest the imprisonment of children there by ICE was also recognized in the Hard News category.
Lindsey Smith’s report, "Romulus Blames High Lead Levels on One Vacant Home That’s Not Vacant," took the award for Investigative Reporting. The story was a feature on the Environment Report that found a single house which has thrown suspicion on the area for unreported or underreported high-lead levels and led city officials to ramp up their protection testing and measures.
The Excellence in Use of Sound award recognized Mornings in Michigan for “The Early Birder Gets the Warblers Chickadees, and Orioles,” by Rebecca Williams who explored the peaceful mornings of birders catching glimpses of their favorite Michigan species.
“Mariachi Group Brings Women to the Front of the Stage” by Rebecca Kruth was the Best Feature Reporting winner. The story followed young women as they sought to break down barriers in southwest Detroit within the male-dominated mariachi genre.
Regional winners of the Murrow Awards automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition, which will be judged in May. A complete list of the 2019 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards winners can be found here.
Michigan Radio competes in Region 7 in the Large Market Radio category, which consists of public and commercial radio stations in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Other public radio stations in Michigan winning regional Murrow Awards in the Small Market Radio category were Interlochen Public Radio and WKAR Public Radio.
The Radio Television Digital News Association is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTDNA has been honoring excellence in journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971, and the Murrow Awards are among the most respected journalism awards in the world.
