Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio-based NPR station, has been named a finalist by the LA Press Club in four categories at the 17th annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. The categories are Diversity in the Entertainment Industry, One-on-One Interview, Soft News Feature, and Best Use of Sound. The winners will be announced on December 1.
- Diversity in the Entertainment Industry
- Caroline Feraday, KCLU, “America’s first all-female mariachi group bring the rich cultural heritage of Latin America to Santa Barbara County”
- Norma Martinez, Marian Navarro, Texas Public Radio, “‘My instrument is the orchestra’ — Colombian-born conductor discusses her path to the podium”
- Elvis Mitchell, Rebecca Mooney, Katie Gilcrest, KCRW, “New Yorker writer Hua Hsu reflects on memoir ‘Stay True’”
- Lisa Niver, PODCAST: Make Your Own Map, “Ageless Ambition: Inspirational Leadership of Carolyn Ray, JourneyWoman”
- Caroline Feraday, KCLU, “America’s first all-female mariachi group bring the rich cultural heritage of Latin America to Santa Barbara County”
One-on-One Interview, Other Arts Personalities
- A.D. Amorosi, Pacifica National Public Radio affiliates, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, “A.D. Amorosi's Theater in the Round Presents: Iconoclasts: Rufus Wainwright and Don Was”
- Jonathan Bastian, KCRW, “The Japanese art of happiness: From ikigai, to ritual, to embracing old age”
- Nathan Cone, Norma Martinez, Marian Navarro, Texas Public Radio, “‘Singing from a deeper place’ — Singer Lisa Morales talks life, inspirations”
- Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, “Geddy Lee Tells All: 'My Effin' Life' — and Rush's Possible Future”
- Lyndsey Parker, Totally '80s, “The Legacy of George Michael with Simon Napier-Bell”
- A.D. Amorosi, Pacifica National Public Radio affiliates, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, “A.D. Amorosi's Theater in the Round Presents: Iconoclasts: Rufus Wainwright and Don Was”
Soft News Feature
- Nathan Cone, Texas Public Radio, “Grain, grit, texture: in a digital world, film photography is thriving”
- Ethan Huang, AnnenbergMedia, “Voice actors in the struggle against AI” * Esther D. Kustanowitz, Erin Benmoche, The Bagel Report Podcast, “Maestro & Menorahs”
- Giuliana Mayo, KCRW, “Minerva Hamilton Hoyt — tireless defender of the desert — saved Joshua Tree”
- Chris O'Falt, Trevor Wallace, IndieWire, “The People's Joker Director Vera Drew”
- Nathan Cone, Texas Public Radio, “Grain, grit, texture: in a digital world, film photography is thriving”
Best Use of Sound
- Caroline Feraday, KCLU, “Why Superman singer took a risky journey to Kyiv to film with Ukrainian National Orchestra”
- Elvis Mitchell, Rebecca Mooney, Katie Gilcrest, KCRW, “Actor Cillian Murphy on The Beatles’ ‘A Day in the Life’”
- Jack Morgan, Texas Public Radio, “Charreada is the beautiful San Antonio rodeo that both breaks norms and honors tradition”
- Caroline Feraday, KCLU, “Why Superman singer took a risky journey to Kyiv to film with Ukrainian National Orchestra”
TPR honored with 6 PMJA awards, including best talk show, newscast, series and public affairs program
Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio-based NPR station, has been recognized by the Public Media Journalists Association with six awards. They include first place in the newscast category for TPR's Morning Edition newscast hosted by Norma Martinez and produced by Marian Navarro.
TPR's The Source hosted by David Martin Davies and produced by Kayla Padilla was honored with first place for audience engagement programs for the episode: Is SAISD's rightsizing plan fair?
First place in the education feature category went to the series Golden Pennies: Why Texas school funding still isn't fair by Camille Phillips.
Davies and Padilla were awarded the top honor for public affairs program for their audio documentary: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Evading the Texas abortion plan.
The top award for collaborative effort went to TPR and The American Homefront Project for a series highlighting military mental health.
In the newscast writing category, Davies was a finalist for his story on The Sound of a Solar Eclipse.
TPR wins a record six regional Edward R. Murrow Awards
The Murrow Awards, presented by RTDNA, are among the most prestigious in broadcast journalism. They strive to highlight journalism today that embodies the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the broadcast news profession.
TPR was honored for its continuing coverage of the standoff between Gov. Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden at the border over immigration. The coverage, led by Davies, was also recognized in the hard news reporting category.
TPR's Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Evading the Texas Abortion Ban was honored as the top documentary. Co-reported by Davies and Padilla, the audio-documentary shares the stories of Texans forced to travel to other states for reproductive medical care and the people who help them.
The bilingual TPR podcast Caliber 60 was recognized as the top news series. The podcast, hosted by Stephania Corpi and Toya Sarno Jordan, traced the flow of avocados, guns, and people between Mexico and the U.S.
TPR Noticias al Día, the station's daily Spanish language newscast, was selected as the top newscast.
TPR's Brian Kirkpatrick was recognized in the sports category for his reporting on Wembymania taking over San Antonio.
The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration between TPR, NPR, KERA in North Texas, KUT in Austin, and Houston Public Media, also received a regional Edward R. Murrow award for its original podcast Sugar Land.
The national Edward R. Murrow awards will be announced in August.
TPR wins five TAB awards, including overall excellence
The Texas Association of Broadcasters recognized TPR 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 was chosen by the Texas Association of Broadcasters as the state's top newscast.
Education Reporter 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.
Kirkpatrick was recognized in the sports category for Wembymania taking over San Antonio.
First Amendment awards
TPR was honored 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 recognized for his story featured in TPR's Between Here and Home series about how Afghans are navigating life in San Antonio.
TPR's Caliber 60 podcast received the First Amendment award for Spanish language investigation.
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) selected "Golden Pennies" as a finalist for its top honor in the broadcast news category. Reported by Phillips, the series takes a deep dive into why Texas school funding still isn't fair.
'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' honored
Davies and Padilla were also honored by the Texas Medical Association with an Anson Jones Award for their audio-documentary Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Evading the Texas Abortion Ban.
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.
