WFPL News and the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting took home 13 awards for radio and print/online coverage—including eight first place prizes—at this year’s annual Society of Professional Journalists Metro Journalism Awards in Louisville. The winners were announced Thursday night.
Here are the winners:
Print/Online
Continuing Coverage
SECOND PLACE: University of Louisville (Kate Howard)
Crime/Courts/Criminal Justice Reporting
FIRST PLACE: Staff Misconduct In Kentucky’s Juvenile Justice System (Kate Howard)
THIRD PLACE: Gynnya McMillen (R.G. Dunlop and Kate Howard)
Enterprise/ Investigative Reporting
SECOND PLACE: Kentucky Constables: Untrained and Unaccountable (R.G. Dunlop and John Boel)
Government/ Politics
FIRST PLACE: Despite Trump’s Promises, Coal Industry Rebound In Appalachia Remains Unlikely (Erica Peterson)
Radio/Podcasting
Business Reporting
FIRST PLACE: As Craft Beer Thrives In Kentucky, Local Hops Producers Feel Growing Pains(Roxanne Scott)
Feature Reporting
FIRST PLACE: I Said Bang!: A History of the Dirt Bowl (Laura Ellis and Ravon Churchill)
SECOND PLACE: Muhammad Ali’s Louisville Roots (Rick Howlett)
General News
FIRST PLACE: MSD’s Plans For Smoketown Basin Called Unequal (Erica Peterson)
Health Care Reporting
FIRST PLACE: In Ultra-Red Jackson County, Health Care Didn’t Move Voters(Lisa Gillespie)
Investigative Reporting
FIRST PLACE: The University of Louisville Foundation Bought An Empty Factory In Oklahoma Because A Donor Asked(Kate Howard)
SECOND PLACE: Kentucky Constables: Untrained and Unaccountable (R.G. Dunlop and John Boel)
Minority/Women’s Affairs Reporting
FIRST PLACE: #MuseumsSoWhite (Ashlie Stevens)
Other accolades
In addition to these awards, WFPL and KYCIR reporters took home nine statewide radio (and one statewide television) award from the Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters’ Association in April. First place awards included honors for"The Next Louisville: Where Are the Black People in Bourbon?"(Roxanne Scott and Ashlie Stevens), coverage of the death of Muhammad Ali(Rick Howlett), a yearlong reporting project called "The Next Louisville: Race, Ethnicity and Culture" and KYCIR stories about a U of L Foundation real estate deal (Kate Howard) and Kentucky constables (R.G. Dunlop and WAVE 3 reporter John Boel). Rick Howlett was also named Best Reporter.
WFPL's Jake Ryan won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for a story on vacant properties in Louisville.
Earlier this year, KYCIR Reporter Kate Howard also won a national award from the Investigative Reporters and Editorsfor that examination of the U of L Foundation's real estate deal. That same piece picked up a regional Edward R. Murrow awardand a regional Society of Professional Journalists’ Green Eyeshade Award.
KYCIR Reporter R.G. Dunlop also won accolades for his investigation of Kentucky constables, picking up a second place SPJ Green Eyeshade Award.
Finally, our colleagues at the Ohio Valley ReSource won recognition for several stories, including a national Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for a collaboration with NPR aboutthe resurgence of black lung disease, a SPJ Sigma Delta Chi award and an award from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation for the same series, a Virginias Associated Press Broadcast Award for an investigation into the dumping of illegal frack waste in Kentucky, and a Kentucky Associated Press Award for a story about immigrants working in Kentucky's agriculture sector.