Gulf States Newsroom wins seven 2024 regional Murrow awards!
Managing editor Priska Neely on what the awards mean
For the third year in a row the Gulf States Newsroom is bringing in a heavy bag of regional Murrow awards. We are so honored to receive seven awards for news series, hard news, digital, DEI, sports, investigative reporting and writing! 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆🏆 🏆🏆 So proud of this team!
These awards are given out by the Radio Television Digital News Association, honoring work that demonstrates the excellence that broadcast great Edward R. Murrow made a standard.
While we don’t do the work for the awards, the recognition is always meaningful and energizing. The spread this year showcases the wide variety of issues we cover and the way our reporting highlights issues and wins — complicating narratives across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Investigative Reporting: Utility Bill of the Month
Last year, at local station open house, Gulf States Newsroom senior reporter Stephan Bisaha mentioned that he was reporting on water bills in New Orleans. That caught the ear of a young couple visiting who had their own utility bill story — a $20,000 water bill. When we looked into their situation, we realized that it was not unique. This opened up a way to examine gaps in utility technology in the region. Since this fit into Stephan’s economic mobility beat, we decided to launch a series — in the style of NPR’s Bill of the Month — highlighting how these persistent problems impact the people who live in the region.
We vet each of the bills, review documents and get responses from utility companies. In multiple instances, utilities and agencies looked back into cases after we started asking questions. Some sources saw thousands of dollars taken off their balance. It’s an excellent example of local, accountability and public service journalism that is accessible and understandable.
Digital: Fashion at the Magic City Classic
The Magic City Classic, the annual showdown between Alabama A&M and Alabama State University, is the largest HBCU football game in the country. It’s kind of like a holiday week for some in Birmingham. Our sports and culture reporting fellow Joseph King wanted to focus on the fashion at the Classic and centered community engagement.
- We started with an Instagram callout, asking listeners to submit their favorite fits from year’s past. We shared those photos on our social platforms.
- Ahead of the game, our radio and digital feature centered on the significance of the fashion at the classic and how it ties in historically with Black pride and culture: At the Magic City Classic in Alabama, what you wear is just as important as who you cheer for
- Then on the day of the event, our sports and culture reporting fellow Joseph King went out to the stadium with photographer Andi Rice and took photos and got stories from people who were dressed to the nines!We shared a roundup of some of the best ‘fits in these posts on Instagram: IG post part 1 and part 2.
We got so much positive feedback from community members who appreciated our thoughtful treatment of this cultural event and it’s so great to get recognition from RTDNA as well!
News Series: Place, Erased
Environmental justice reporter Danny McArthur was inspired to explore towns in the region that had been transformed or wiped out altogether by natural or man-made disasters. (Read more about that inspiration in this post!) They teamed up with Drew Hawkins to produce some awesome stories. I’m proud of this one because of the reporting and narrative but also the collaboration between the reporters and editors. This was a big labor of love!
- Place, Erased: Lessons from a drowned Alabama town
- Place, Erased: The fight for the remains of a Louisiana town
- Place, Erased: Is this Mississippi community really a ghost town? It depends on who you ask
And there’s more!
- Hard News: How Mississippi historians are preserving Emmett Till’s and Mamie Till-Mobley’s story — This story from community engagement reporter Maya Miller connects the dots between the dark history of the region and what’s happening in the present. Legacy and lessons. This is something we strive to do in so many of our stories.
- Excellence in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Place, Erased: The fight for the remains of a Louisiana town— This story tackles racial injustice head on — focusing on the long, racist legacy of Black land theft and Black cemetery erasure in the U.S. and one town fighting back. At one point Drew Hawkins asks an attorney if this uphill battle could have happened with historically white cemetery and the attorney responds that he doesn’t think it would face even a tenth of the troubles.
- Excellence in Writing: Dollar stores are everywhere in the South — This story is just plain fun! Give it a listen and you’ll hear Stephan Bisaha’s skillful writing that showcases the audio in a creative way and breathes life into a story that could have easily been wonky.
- Sports Reporting: At Huntingdon College, Alabama’s 1st NCAA women’s wrestling team is ready to roll — With this story, I knew we’d gotten something right adding in the sports and culture beat on the team. Joseph King found a newsy sports story that shed light on a hidden gem in the region with dynamic sound and descriptive writing.
