WBHM 90.3, Gulf States Newsroom win National Murrow Awards

Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FMMurrow Awards are among the most prestigious in broadcast and digital news and honor outstanding achievements in electronic journalism.and the Gulf States Newsroom have each won a 2024 national Edward R. Murrow Award - among the most prestigious in broadcast and digital news.

Presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association since 1971, Edward R. Murrow Awards honor outstanding achievements in electronic journalism. Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of broadcast and digital journalism. Murrow Awards are presented to news organizations, not individuals.

The Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration among WBHM, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana, won in the category Investigative Reporting, Large Market Radio, for Utility Bill of the Month.

WBHM won in the category Hard News, Small Market Radio, for After Botched Executions, Alabama Will Try Lethal Injection Again. Read the full list of 2024 winners.

The awards will be presented at an in-person ceremony Oct. 14 in New York City.

This is WBHM's third National Murrow Award since 2020, including a second award for former health and science reporter Mary Scott Hodgin, who previously won in the Podcast category. In 2021, WBHM 90.3 FM won a national Edward R. Murrow award for Overall Excellence for Small Market Radio.

This is the first National Murrow Award for the Gulf States Newsroom, which launched in fall 2020. Stephan Bisaha, a senior reporter covering economic mobility across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, joined the team in February 2021 and is based at WBHM.

WBHM Executive Director and General Manager William Dahlberg says the success would not have been possible without the leadership and guidance of Gulf States Newsroom Regional Managing Editor Priska Neely and WBHM Managing Editor Andrew Yeager.

The awards show that listeners in the heart of Alabama are receiving top-tier journalism from WBHM and the Gulf States Newsroom, Yeager says.

"Issues of capital punishment are among the weightiest in civic life, and I am glad Mary Scott could tackle the recent controversy around executions in Alabama in a thoughtful, clear manner," Yeager said.

This is a major accomplishment for their burgeoning newsroom, Neely says.

"The idea for 'Utility Bill of the Month' came from a passing comment from a listener," Neely said. "I am so proud of Stephan Bisaha and our editors for seeing the bigger potential and bringing a yearlong series into the world. This is investigative reporting that is accessible, informative and driven by community concerns."

WBHM 90.3 FM is a listener-supported service of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

More than a radio station, WBHM is an essential public resource through journalism that is fair, credible, accurate and honest. The WBHM newsroom makes its decisions independently from WBHM's business and fundraising operations. Free from commercial and political influence, WBHM seeks to make Birmingham and Alabama a better place to live by educating, engaging and entertaining the people of the Birmingham Metro area and the state. WBHM is dedicated to the idea that an informed citizenry is vital to democracy and a thriving economy, and it celebrates diversity, innovation and lifelong learning. For more news, follow the station on Facebook and @WBHM903 on Instagram.

The Gulf States Newsroom is a joint regional news collaboration between NPR and member stations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana: New Orleans' WWNO, Baton Rouge's WRKF and Mississippi Public Broadcasting in Jackson. Through the Gulf States Newsroom, the stations and NPR share resources, plan together and deliver more reporting in areas with widening gaps in local news coverage. Made possible with lead support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Heather and Paul Haaga Jr., the collaboration aims to better serve the existing public media audience while also making a multi-platform push to reach new, diverse groups throughout the Gulf region. The Gulf States Newsroom's Neely was named 2022 Editor of the Year by the Public Media Journalists Association and is currently president of PMJA.

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