WVTF RADIO IQ News wins seven awards in recognition of reporting excellence

The WVTF RADIO IQ News Department has received seven awards in recognition of excellence in reporting from three professional organizations during the 2016 award season.

The station claimed five 2017 regional small-market radio Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellent reporting, given by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

The prestigious awards highlight the best electronic journalism produced by radio, television, and online news organizations in the United States and around the world. 

The winning entries and categories are:   

Continuing Coverage Award - New Evidence of Innocence: The Jens Soering Story, by Sandy Hausman

Excellence in Social Media – UnMonumental, from lead producer Kelley Libby, executive producer AIR, and WVTF-RADIO IQ

Hard News Reporting - Transgender Teen from Virginia Becomes Focus of National Debate, by Mallory Noe-Payne

Investigative Reporting - Life Without Parole: A Five Part Series, by Sandy Hausman

News Series - The Perils of Pork in America, by Sandy Hausman

Mallory Noe-Payne also received the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. The award recognizes exceptional professional journalism produced in 2016. Judges selected 85 honorees from more than 1,300 submissions. Entries included selections from television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, online news outlets, and magazines.

Her feature, Not All Felons Want to Vote: A Community Worn Down by Politics, won the honor in Radio Feature Reporting for non-100 media markets.

WVTF RADIO IQ, lead producer Kelley Libby and executive producer AIR Media, also received a Meritorious Award for Best Feature or Human Interest Story at a Metro Radio Station from the Virginias Associated Press (AP) Broadcasters.

The winning story, When it Took on a Different Meaning: The Confederate Flag, is part of UnMonumental: A collaboration between independent producer Kelley Libby and AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio.

“State, regional, and local public media journalism has never been more essential to the communities we serve," said station General Manager Glenn Gleixner.  "Our listeners across the commonwealth are fortunate to have some of the best reporters in public media working for them at WVTF and RADIO IQ. Ms. Hausman, Ms. Noe-Payne, and Ms. Libby have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to the region with high quality, engaging, fact-based reporting. We are extremely proud of what they accomplish and present to our listeners every day, and it’s terrific they’re receiving this well-earned national recognition.”   

RTDNA, is the world’s largest professional organization devoted exclusively to broadcast journalism.

This year, RTDNA awarded 751 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in 16 categories. The Region 12 awards program covers media outlets in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Delaware. Regional winners automatically become eligible for the national awards competition. Regional award winners are entered into a national competition.  National winners will be announced in June.

Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the broadcast news profession.

A complete list of regional RTDNA winners can be found here.

The Sigma Delta Chi Awards date back to 1932, when the society honored six individuals for their contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939 as the Distinguished Service Awards.

All Sigma Delta Chi award winners can be found here.

The Virginias AP Broadcasters honors important journalism in Virginia and West Virginia. This year, six divisions competed in 20 categories, including large and small market television, metro and nonmetro radio, and radio and television college stations.

All of our reporting can be found at WVTF.org.