WFIU and WTIU Earn 48 Awards in Recent Competitions

Stations Receive 22 SPJ Awards, 6 Regional Emmys, 18 Telly Awards, and 2 Regional Murrows

WFIU Public Radio and WTIU Public Television earned a combined total of 48 awards in regional and national contests this May and June.
 
Together, WFIU and WTIU were honored with 22 awards at the Indiana Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Best in Indiana Journalism Contest on June 14. The WFIU-WTIU News team took home 17 awards, with first place awards for television investigative reporting, television medical/science reporting, best online multimedia, and radio continuing coverage. WTIU earned four awards, including a first place in environmental reporting and second place in features news videography for its TV series Journey Indiana and a respective first and second place in the television documentary category for Amen! Music of the Black Church and Feel of Vision. The WFIU-WTIU Digital team also won a third-place online award for the indianapublicmedia.org website. (A complete list of WFIU and WTIU’s SPJ awards is available on pages 2-4 of this release.)

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WTIU won six regional Emmys during the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter’s virtual awards ceremony held Saturday, June 12. Journey Indiana received three awards for best feature in news for its story on the man behind Parke County’s Bridgeton Mill and best features in environment/science for stories on fireflies and the Sandhill Crane migration. Three of WTIU’s documentaries were also honored with Emmys, including Ernie Pyle: Life in the Trenches for best writing, Amen! Music of the Black Church for best historical/cultural content, and A Rural Revolution: Indiana’s Round Barns for best nostalgia content.
 
The national Telly Awards announced on May 25 that WTIU and IU Radio and Television Services were the winners of 18 awards in its annual competition, which honors excellence in video and television across all screens. Five WTIU documentaries won Telly Awards. Ernie Pyle: Life in the Trenches earned a Gold Telly Award in the biography category and a Silver Telly Award for writing. Silver Awards were also given to Crooked Stick: Songs in a Strange Land in the live events category, Amen: Music of the Black Church in the religious/spiritual category, and A Rural Revolution: Indiana’s Round Barns in the cultural category. Actual World, Possible Future earned a Bronze Telly in the social responsibility category. Journey Indiana earned nine awards, including four Silvers in the history, cultural, editing, and videography/cinematography categories and five Bronze Telly Awards in the nature/wildlife, sports, documentary, religious/spiritual, and food and beverage categories. “Peggy’s Poetry and Zarg,” a segment from WTIU’s local children’s series The Friday Zone, earned a Bronze in the children’s category. WTIU’s digital series [Indi]android won a Bronze in the online documentary category for its feature on graphic novelist Nate Powell. IU Radio and Television Services also received a Bronze in the non-broadcast category for educational institution.
 
The WFIU-WTIU News team won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards on May 6 for investigative reporting on Indiana’s contact tracing plans and best news documentary for A Mother’s Justice: The Trials of Lisa Montgomery. Murrow winners represent work of the highest quality produced by radio, television, and online news organizations around the world. Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition. National Murrow Award winners will be honored on October 27 during a ceremony in New York City.

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​Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Best in Indiana Journalism Contest

PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
BEST NEWSCAST (Outside Indianapolis market)
 
3RD PLACE
WTIU NEWS TEAM
Indiana Newsdesk
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (Outside Indianapolis market)
 
1ST PLACE
GEORGE HALE, JOEY MENDOLIA, ADAM PINSKER
Federal Executions Pose Risks To Inmates And Participants
WFIU/WTIU News
 
3RD PLACE
BROCK TURNER
‘It Is Abuse’: Indiana Caregivers Say Nursing Home Visitation Policies Don’t Put Residents First
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
CONTINUING COVERAGE (Outside Indianapolis market)
 
2ND PLACE
ADAM PINSKER, JOEY MENDOLIA, GEORGE HALE
Federal Government Resumes Executions During Pandemic
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
DOCUMENTARY OR SPECIAL (Outside Indianapolis market)
 
1ST PLACE
JUSTIN CROSSLEY, RON PRICKEL, RAYMOND WISE, ROB ANDERSON
Amen! Music of the Black Church
WTIU
 
2ND PLACE
TUCKER GRAGG, AUSTIN GARDNER, KEVIN WEAVER, ROB ANDERSON
Feel of Vision
WTIU
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
BUSINESS OR CONSUMER AFFAIRS REPORTING (Any Indiana station)
 
3RD PLACE
ETHAN BURKS
Bloomington Restaurants Struggle During COVID Shutdown
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
EDUCATION COVERAGE (Any Indiana station)
 
 
3RD PLACE
ADAM PINSKER
Teachers Retiring Early Amid COVID Concerns: 'I Miss It Already'
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
COVERAGE OF MINORITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ISSUES (Any Indiana station)
 
3RD PLACE
GEORGE HALE, ADAM PINSKER, JOEY MENDOLIA
Federal Executions Target Black And Minority Inmates
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
MEDICAL OR SCIENCE REPORTING (Any Indiana station)
 
1ST PLACE
MITCH LEGAN
1,000-plus Tyson Infections And One Hospital
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING (Any Indiana station)
 
1ST PLACE
JOHN TIMM
Journey Indiana: What If The Lights Go Out?
WTIU
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN COVERAGE (Any Indiana station)
 
2ND PLACE
BROCK TURNER
Excuse Or Not, It's Still Unclear Who Can Vote By Mail This November
WFIU/WTIU News
 
3RD PLACE
BROCK TURNER
Vigo County Has Correctly Picked POTUS Since 1952, Streak Could End In 2020
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: TELEVISION
FEATURES NEWS VIDEOGRAPHY (Any Indiana station)
 
2ND PLACE
JACOB LINDAUER
Journey Indiana: Clarissa Pezone Ceramics
WTIU
 
PROFESSIONAL: ONLINE AWARDS
BEST JOURNALISM WEBSITE
 
2ND PLACE WFIU/WTIU NEWS STAFF
WFIU/WTIU News Website
 
 
3RD PLACE
EOBAN BINDER AND AARON BURATTI
indianapublicmedia.org
WTIU / WFIU
 
PROFESSIONAL: ONLINE AWARDS
BEST ONLINE MULTIMEDIA
 
1ST PLACE
WFIU/WTIU NEWS
WFIU/WTIU
 
RADIO BEST NEWSCAST
 
2ND PLACE:
SARA WITTMEYER
August 23, 2020 Morning Newscast
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: RADIO
RADIO FEATURE STORY
 
2ND PLACE:
MITCH LEGAN
How Did Monroe County Deal With Spanish Flu Pandemic Of 1918?
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: RADIO
RADIO DOCUMENTARY OR SPECIAL
 
2ND PLACE: ADAM PINSKER, GEORGE HALE, JOEY MENDOLIA
A Mother's Justice: The Trials Of Lisa Montgomery
WFIU/WTIU News
 
PROFESSIONAL: RADIO
RADIO CONTINUING COVERAGE
 
1ST PLACE: BROCK TURNER
COVID 19 Nursing Home Cases Soar, As State Refuses To Release Data
WFIU/WTIU News
 
3RD PLACE
MITCH LEGAN AND GEORGE HALE
Civil Rights Activist Attacked At Lake Monroe
WFIU/WTIU News