Missouri School of Journalism students and staff win 11 Missouri Broadcasters Association awards
Left to right: Jacob Richey, Beth Finello, John Murphy, Jeimmie Nevalga, Evie Allen and Dominick Lee
By Nate Brown
Osage Beach, Mo. (June 2, 2025) — NPR-member station KBIA-FM and NBC affiliate KOMU-TV, both working labs for students at the Missouri School of Journalism, won a total of 11 awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association on May 31. The Missouri News Network newsrooms received MBA Awards in several categories, ranging from Best News Series and Best Feature Reporting to Best Investigative Reporting and Best Use of Digital Media.
“The success of KOMU and KBIA at the MBA Awards shows the quality of journalism being done at our Missouri News Network outlets,” said Professor Mark Horvit, faculty group chair of journalism professions. “It shows the strength we have from our faculty, staff and students who work for these outlets. Our students get to learn from some of the best as shown by the wins Saturday night.”
Each station swept one of its categories. In radio’s Best News Series, KBIA won first place for “The Weight of Evidence” by Anna Spidel and second place for “The Next Harvest” by Jana Rose Schleis.
“I’m proud that KBIA swept the news series category in its division,” said KBIA News Director Stan Jastrzebski. “Public media’s ability to do long-form reporting is unmatched and both Anna’s and Jana Rose’s series were great examples of that.”
In TV’s Best Feature Reporting category, KOMU won first place for “How much Missouri farmland does China own?” and second place for “Columbia neighborhood comes together to help resident who is losing his home” — both reported by John Murphy.
KBIA also won the Sunshine Hero Award, which “recognizes investigative reporting that makes use of the Missouri Open Meetings and Records law, commonly known as the Sunshine Law,” according to MBA’s website. Only one radio station and one TV station, regardless of market size, receives the honor, which went to “Is Columbia’s crime spiking? Police say yes, numbers say no” by graduate student Aminah Jenkins.
“For a student to win the Sunshine Hero Award among all radio stories done in the state last year speaks volumes about both the education we give broadcasters at KBIA and the Missouri School of Journalism, and about Aminah’s perseverance,” said KBIA’s Jastrzebski. “To do a story that used data journalism to contradict claims made by a powerful lobby is both laudable and courageous and we’re extremely proud of Aminah and her work.”
KOMU’s Siobhan Harms, who graduated in May, won second place in Best Investigative Reporting for “Parents push for change to keep sex offenders off school grounds.”
The two J-School broadcast media outlets won the following awards:
KBIA-FM
- First Place, Best News Series, for “The Weight of Evidence.” Reporting by Anna Spidel.
- Second Place, Best News Series, for “The Next Harvest.” Reporting by Jana Rose Schleis, MA ‘23.
- First Place, Sunshine Hero Award, for “Is Columbia’s crime spiking? Police say yes, numbers say no.” Reporting by graduate student Aminah Jenkins.
KOMU-TV
- First Place, Best Anchor, for Evie Allen.
- First Place, Best Feature Reporting, for “How much Missouri farmland does China own?” Reporting by John Murphy, BJ ‘24.
- First Place, Social Media Star, for Beth Finello.
- Second Place, Best Feature Reporting, for “Columbia neighborhood comes together to help resident who is losing his home.” Reporting by John Murphy, BJ ‘24.
- Second Place, Best Investigative Reporting, for “Parents push for change to keep sex offenders off school grounds.” Reporting by Siobhan Harms, BJ ‘25.
- Second Place, Best News Series, for “LU alumni ask Board of Curators for immediate action on important concerns,” “LU National Alumni Association responds to board of curators June 10 letter in recent interview,” and “Timeline: A review of events leading up to LU president’s reinstatement.” Reporting by Evie Allen.
- Second Place, Best Use of Digital Media, for “Holiday lights displays illuminate nightly across Columbia and mid-Missouri.” Reported by Dominick Lee, BA ’10, and Jacob Richey, BJ ‘24.
- Second Place, Best Weathercast, for Beth Finello.
KBIA-FM, mid-Missouri’s NPR-member station, reaches 14 counties and has served mid-Missouri since 1972. KBIA is a university-licensed, community-supported not-for-profit institution, actively involved in the life of the mid-Missouri area. The station is the area’s largest provider of arts programming, serving more than 30,000 listeners and members each week.
KOMU-TV is the area’s NBC affiliate and is the only university-owned commercial television station in the U.S. that uses its newsroom as a working lab for students. KOMU is an auxiliary enterprise of the University of Missouri and generates all revenue from station operations; its investments in broadcast technology are funded entirely via advertising and retransmission revenues. KOMU receives no funding from the university or state.
Updated: June 3, 2025