KBIA is honored to receive first place awards in three categories in the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. annual national competition. The awards honor the best work in public radio across the country. KBIA competed against other stations in the “medium size station” category.
KBIA took first place in the “Long Documentary” category for its in-depth program, “Mizzou at a Crossroads.” The three-part series analyzed the history and future of racial issues in the wake of the events on the MU campus in November 2015. In their comments, the judges said they, “appreciated the effort put into this documentary of this "headline" story from the University…. The team effort was clear. Solid work on a topic that needed coverage. “ The story was produced by the entire KBIA news team (Ryan Famuliner, Kristofor Husted, Nathan Lawrence, Bram Sable-Smith, Sara Shahriari and Rebecca Smith) and a student at the Missouri School of Journalism (Guimel Sibingo).
KBIA’s local issues talk show Intersection took first place in the News/Public Affairs category for its episode on the Autism Mentor Program at MU. The judges said, “Interesting topic and good use of voices of not just the expert, but also someone who is living with autism, brings a new and hugely important view into the issue.” The show was hosted by KBIA’s Sara Shahriari and produced by student Caty Eisterhold.
Finally, MU student Riley Beggin took first place in the Student Hard Feature category for her investigative piece, “Skewed Sampling Persists in St. Louis Lead Contamination Testing.” The judges said, “A comprehensive investigative piece worthy of a first place award. Great job at localizing the Flint situation and examining problems in St. Louis. This award wins on the storytelling, the investigative pieces, the different perspectives, and the audio work.”
Three awards ties the highest total KBIA has won from the PRNDI competition in a single year, but continues a string of recent success. KBIA won two first place awards in 2016, and three first place awards in 2015.
