West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) earned two national news awards this past weekend for reporting done in 2016.
Radio show and podcast Inside Appalachia won first place in Public Radio News Directors Inc.’s (PRNDI), Long Documentary category for an episode titled “Hippies, Home Birth and the History of Birthing Babies in Appalachia.”
The judges commented: “Well-handled intimacy, deep history and context, the story takes you there.”
WVPB news director Jesse Wright said it’s wonderful that all the hard work that went into the episode was recognized.
“Our talented reporters and producers spent an incredible amount of time examining the issues in this story and developing a compelling storyline for our audience,” he said. “The Inside Appalachia team had out-of-the-box ideas about how to approach these stories. They got out of their comfort zones, and it shows in the final product.”
Inside Appalachia host and co-producer Jessica Lilly, co-producer Roxy Todd, Appalachia Health News coordinator Kara Lofton, and editors Suzanne Higgins and Glynis Board worked on the episode.
Roxy Todd also won first place in PRNDI’s Nationally Edited Soft Feature category for her story titled “In Coal Country, Farmers get creative to bridge the fresh produce gap.”
This award is particularly noteworthy because in this category, entries compete across all divisions – large and small – so the story was up against very stiff competition.
The awards were handed out during the annual PRNDI conference and awards banquet, held June 24, in Miami.
WVPB picked up several Associated Press of the Virginias awards earlier this year, including the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for Public Service in Journalism Excellence for reporting done on the floods that hit southern and central West Virginia in June 2016.
Two WVPB television shows have also been nominated for Regional Emmy Awards – “Inside Appalachia: West Virginia’s 1,000-Year Flood” and “Abracadabra”. Those award winners will be announced later this year in August.