WKU Public Radio was awarded three First Place plaques as well as nine other Certificates of Excellence at the 2015 Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters awards Saturday night in Lexington.
The Staff was given top honors for Best Long Newscast, Lisa Autry won first place for Best Short Serious News Feature for her report on a Muhlenberg County town coming together to remember family members killed in a house fire, and Morning Edition host Joe Corcoran won first place for Best Long Light News Feature for his report on Bowling Green's TopCrops program.
Autry was also awarded Certificates of Excellence in the categories of Best Short Serious News Feature, Best Long Serious News Feature, Best Spot News and Best Continuing Coverage. Emil Moffatt won Certificates for Best Long Serious News Feature, Best Radio Reporter, Best Long Sports Feature and Best Long Light News Feature. The staff also won a certificate of recognition in the category of Best Radio Website.
In their comments for Best Long Newscast, the judges wrote "You are 'telling' me the news as opposed to 'announcing' the news at me. Great conversational style. Well organized, good tempo and good use of quality sound bites."
Lisa Autry was commended for her "descriptive story telling of the good, the bad and the ugly that's come of a town's tragedy."
The judges wrote that Corcoran's TopCrops report was "an important story about teaching mentally challenged adults how to grow and sell garden produce. Well reported with good interviews and natural sound."
"For thirty-five years WKU Public Radio has served the Commonwealth with in-depth news and information," said David Brinkley, Director of Educational Telecommunications at WKU. "Today we continue to see peer recognition for the quality of our on-air product. It is a pleasure to work beside some of the top professionals in our field. WKU Public Radio continues an established tradition of quality. Our main purpose is service to our audience. These awards reflect our continued effort to bring our best effort to the table every single day."
WKU Public Radio can be heard on WKYU-FM 88.9 in Bowling Green, WDCL-FM 89.7 and translator station W277AA-FM 103.3 in Somerset, WKPB-FM 89.5 Henderson and Owensboro and WKUE-FM 90.9 in Elizabethtown.