KBIA-FM wins 8 regional Edward R. Murrow awards
The Radio and Television Digital News Association Awards recognize the best in electronic journalism.
Columbia, Mo. (May 12, 2020) — The Radio and Television Digital News Association has awarded KBIA-FM eight prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards for its work as a small-market radio station in Region 5. These awards recognize the best electronic journalism produced by radio, television and online news organizations around the world.
It is the second most wins for any small market radio station in the country in 2020, and the third most KBIA has won in a single year. KBIA has won 34 regional Murrows in the last 4 years.
“Winning a regional Murrow Award is a thrill and a career highlight for any broadcast journalist, so the fact that students are winning them before graduation is really remarkable,” KBIA News Director Ryan Famuliner said. “In 7 of the 8 winning entries, student journalists were either the primary reporters or involved in meaningful ways in the content that was submitted.”
There are 17 categories in each regional competition. KBIA competed against small-market radio and television stations in Region 5: Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition, which will be judged in June.
KBIA has won national Murrows in 5 of the last 6 years, winning for Continuing Coverage in 2018, Excellence in Innovation in 2017, Best Website in 2016, Feature Reporting in 2015, and Best Website in 2014. A KBIA student reporter also won the national Student Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Audio Reporting in 2017.
Regional Murrow Awards received are:
- Overall Excellence: For the sixth year in a row, KBIA won for overall excellence. All professional staff members on KBIA’s news team had stories included in the entry.
- Breaking News: How Missouri’s Senate Passed a Restrictive Abortion Bill Overnight by student reporter Aviva Okeson-Haberman. Associate Professor Mark Horvit was the lead editor for the project.
- Excellence in Innovation: Missouri Health Talks. This series is hosted by Rebecca Smith.
- Hard News: For Rural Schools in Missouri, Spotting Mental Health Problems Among Kids Often Falls to Teachers. The story was reported by Sebastián Martínez Valdivia, BA ’13, BJ ’13, MA ’17.
- Multimedia (formerly “Best Website”): This is the eighth year in a row KBIA has received this award.
- News Documentary: Show Me the State: The Legend of Doc Annie. This story was hosted by Kristofor Husted and produced by Jamie Hobbs.
- Podcast: Show Me the State: The Legend of Doc Annie. This story was hosted by Kristofor Husted and produced by Jamie Hobbs.
- Investigative Reporting: Thousands Call Missouri’s Adult Abuse Hotline, But Only Some Get Through. This story was done by student reporters Kyra Haas and Aviva Okeson-Haberman as a collaborative project between KBIA and the School’s community newspaper The Columbia Missourian.
A complete list of the 2020 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards winners can be found on the RTDNA website.
KBIA
KBIA, mid-Missouri’s NPR-member station, reaches 15 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.
Updated: November 12, 2020