From quick, clear reporting on a police-involved shooting, to quality health reporting, ¿Qué Pasa Midwest? and our year long investigation into the impact of the crime of a trusted court expert, our community's support for high quality, local news was honored over the weekend.
In addition to national recognition with finalist placements in the national contests sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Investigative Reporters and Editors group, WNIN was honored with statewide honors in Indiana and Kentucky for reporting in 2017.
The news, weather and traffic you hear each day during Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as in depth journalism of great impact was honored for the public media produced with your support.
On Saturday, April 14, 2018, WNIN was awarded with nine awards at the Indiana and Kentucky Associated Press Broadcaster's annual banquets in Indianapolis and Louisville.
Seven first place, and two second place awards were announced. In Indiana, WNIN-FM competes in the Metro Division, which includes Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne and South Bend areas, plus entries from Chicago and Louisville stations. In Kentucky, all radio stations compete in a single division.
For the third time in the past four years, WNIN-FM was awarded the Outstanding News Operation for Indiana in competition with the largest market news outlets in the state. Also, for the third time in the past five years, a WNIN staffer was named Best Reporter. Samantha Horton was honored for her work for WNIN in 2017.
Here are the categories and the stories for which they were awarded:
1st Place- Outstanding News Operation. The judge's comments: "The clear winner. This comprehensive, varied entry package —notably Que Pasa Midwest, Twitter coverage of a police shooting, the advanced directives forum, and the year long Albert Fink series — confirms WNIN as an exceptional, well rounded news organization."
1st Place- Best Reporter, Samantha Horton. Judge's comments: "Wow, what a multi-threat — quality reporting, audio, video, web production, social media. She's a storytelling force."
1st Place- Best Long-Form Newscast
1st Place- Spot News, John Gibson and Paola Marizan was awarded for our coverage of the police-involved shooting at the federal building in Evansville in August. The judge's comments: "The reporting followed facts and avoided assertion from either direction during what could have turned out to be a socially explosive news cycle."
1st Place- Best Series, Steve Burger and Samantha Horton for our year long investigation into the impact of the crime of Dr. Albert Fink. The judge's comments: "The story at the heart of this series package was a mix of strong, sound journalism and a page-turner that I couldn't put down. Great work."
1st Place- General News, Samantha Horton for a report for Side Effects on Deaconess Hospital's innovative program to get emergency room physicians to take a closer look at a patient's opioid prescription record.
The judge's comments: "Samantha does an excellent job bringing humanity, interest and clarity to a borderline wonky subject like lack of interoperability among healthcare systems."
1st Place, Public Affairs Program, WNIN Staff- The audio documentary produced in conjunction with our investigation into Dr. Albert Fink. The judge's comments: "This year-long series on a bizarre story educated the public about criminal case mental competency exams and illuminated blind spots in the Indiana court system."
2nd Place- Enterprise, for the Albert Fink investigation.
2nd Place- Short, Light Feature- Isaiah Seibert, for his feature on the 2017 solar eclipse at Hopkinsville. Judge's comments: "This epitomizes to me what this category is all about. I loved the feature and it was a creative way to cover it."
