As your community-licensed public radio station, WNIN is happy to announce that Evansville and the Tri-State were well represented in Indiana, Kentucky and nationally this spring with several significant awards in news contests.
At the 2015 Indiana Associated Press Broadcaster's annual banquet:
WNIN-FM was honored as the Outstanding Overall News Operation in the Metro Division, which includes all radio stations in Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, South Bend and Evansville. The Metro Division also hosts entries from Chicago and Louisville. The judges' comments included, "Exhaustive, all-encompassing coverage of breaking news and compelling enterprise stories. WNIN-FM seems committed to their community providing an impressive amount of locally based programming."
For the second year in a row, All Things Considered host Cass Herrington was honored as the best radio reporter in Indiana.
WNIN-FM was awarded 1st place honors in the Best Community Impact category for our "Day Out in New Harmony" broadcast in May, 2014. The "Day Out" series of broadcasts was borne of frustration over not being able to provide adequate news coverage for all communities in our service area. In 2014, the staff decided to change that by taking the station out for an entire day and talk only about one community.
The broadcasts have been well received in those communities, and now by statewide recognition. The judges' comments, "This sounds liked a fantastic thing for a radio station to do for reaching out to the communities it serves and for promoting itself. I can only imagine how much time and preparation it takes to produce just one day of programming like this. Excellent--truly."
Cass Herrington also received awards for her coverage of how summer socials reflect the changing makeup of the Evansville Catholic Diocese, and for her coverage of three autistic teenagers learning to communicate with assistive technology.
In all, WNIN-FM received five first place awards, and one second place award at the event. We are proud to represent the community in this way, and happy to continue serving as your strong and vibrant public media outlet.
WNIN-FM recently was honored with several other awards in news contests in Indiana, Kentucky and through one national broadcast news organization:
On April 23rd, 2015, WNIN-FM was notified by the Radio and Television Digital News Association:
Region 7 (Small Market Radio) Edward R. Murrow Award in the Documentary category for “The Trend- Freedom of Speech: Autistic Teens Take Your Calls”
(Region 7 is Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. This is automatically a finalist for a national award which will be announced in June)
On April 24th, WNIN was honored by the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at their annual banquet in Indianapolis:
1st place- Feature- Cass Herrington- “Freedom of Speech: The Story of Three Autistic Teens”
1st place- Breaking News- John Gibson- “IU Med School Vote”
1st place- Documentary- Cass Herrington and Steve Burger, “The Trend-Freedom of Speech: Autistic Teens Take Your Calls”
2nd place- Breaking News-“John Gibson-Hotel Project Shut Down”
3rd place- In Depth Reporting- Cass Herrington- Compilation entry
On April 25th, WNIN-FM was honored by the Kentucky Associated Press Broadcaster’s at their annual banquet in Lexington:
1st place- Best Radio Reporter- Cass Herrington
1st place- Best Long Serious Feature- Cass Herrington- “Cronicas: The Journey Continues for Latina Women”
1st place- Best Sports Reporting- “Red Blue Hoops”
There were two second place awards to WNIN-FM