Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio-based NPR station, has been recognized by the Texas Association of Broadcasters with five awards for overall excellence, breaking news, newscast, beat reporting, and best sports story.
This is the second year in a row that the TPR Newsroom has received the overall excellence award for large market radio.
"TPR Noticias al Día," the station's nightly Spanish language newscast launched in the fall of 2022, was chosen by the Texas Association of Broadcasters as the state's top newscast.
TPR's Education Reporter Camille Phillips was recognized as the top specialty/beat reporter.
TPR's Joey Palacios was honored in the breaking news category for his reporting from Kinppa on the death of two immigrants in a tractor trailer.
TPR's Brian Kirkpatrick was recognized in the sports category for his collaboration with NPR on Wembymania taking over San Antonio.
First Amendment awards
TPR was recognized with three First Amendment awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Fort Worth chapter for Defending the Disadvantaged and Spanish language news and investigations.
TPR Accountability Reporter Paul Flahive was honored for his story featured in TPR's "Between Here and Home" series about how Afghans are navigating life in San Antonio.
The bilingual TPR podcast "Caliber 60" received the First Amendment award for Spanish language investigation. The podcast hosted by Stephania Corpi and Toya Sarno Jordan traced the flow of avocados, guns, and people between Mexico and the U.S.
A report featured in "TPR Noticias al Día" about controversy stemming from the actions of Texas National Guard troops patrolling the Rio Grande was honored in the General News, Spanish language category. The story was reported by Pablo De La Rosa, the anchor of "TPR Noticias al Día."
'Golden Pennies' up for gold
The Education Writers Association (EWA) has selected the TPR series "Golden Pennies" as a finalist for its top honor in the broadcast news category. Reported by TPR's Education Reporter Camille Phillips, the series takes a deep dive into why Texas school funding still isn't fair. Winners will be announced at the Education Writers Association conference in Las Vegas in June.
'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' honored
TPR's David Martin Davies and Kayla Padilla have been honored by the Texas Medical Associationwith an Anson Jones Awardfor their audio-documentary "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Evading the Texas Abortion Ban."
"Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" shares the stories of Texans forced to travel to other states for reproductive medical care and the people who help them.
From riding the Sunset Limited Amtrak train from San Antonio to El Paso to a network of anonymous pilots who fly women to abortion legal states, many people are finding low cost and creative ways to access out of state abortion care.
But anti-abortion activists seek to shut down local roads and airports with county ordinances that declare it illegal to “aid and abet aid abortion traffickers.”
The TMA emphasized the audio documentary's "significant contribution to healthcare discussions in Texas and nationwide."
The Alliance for Women in Media recognized "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" with a Gracie Award.
The Gracie Awards recognize exemplary programming created by women, for women and about women in all facets of media and entertainment.
Davies and Padilla will receive the award at a ceremony in New York City in June.
The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration between TPR, NPR, KERA in North Texas, KUT in Austin, and Houston Public Media, also received a Gracie Award for its original podcast “Sugar Land.”
In 2018, construction crews building a new school in Sugar Land, Texas, discovered a long-forgotten cemetery containing 95 graves. Through investigative reporting, “Sugar Land” sets out to unearth and share the story of those 95 people — and also, the people trying to control them for over a century.
“Sugar Land” was co-hosted by Brittney Martin and Naomi Reed and was edited by Rachel Osier Lindley of KERA.
