KERA Earns Its Second-Ever National Edward R. Murrow Award

Walters' winning video, Art&Seek Spotlight: Jordan Mathis — Visual Time-Lapse Artist, earned a regional Murrow this spring. It was his third regional win in this category; this is his first national trophy.

Public radio stations in Texas collected two other national Murrows. One, for sports reporting among large radio stations, went to Alexandra Hart of Texas Standard, the statewide public radio newsmagazine that's based at KUT in Austin and co-produced by KERA, Houston Public Media and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. The other, for hard news among small radio stations, was presented to Mitch Borden of Marfa Public Radio.

KERA partner The Texas Tribune won two national Murrows. The Dallas Morning News earned one.

This is KERA's second national Murrow. The first, in 2017, was also for a video: Thorne Anderson and Courtney Collins collected a trophy for part of the series, "One Crisis Away: Rebuilding A Life."

The national Murrows usually are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association at a gala in New York City. Because of the pandemic, this year's Oct. 10 ceremony was virtual. Here's a complete list of national Edward R. Murrow Award winners.

• Excellence in Video (large radio station): KERA for Art&Seek Spotlight: Jordan Mathis — Visual Time-Lapse Artist.

This is KERA's 20th award in 2020. Here are the others:

KERA earned three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association. One of them — for breaking-news coverage of the El Paso mass shooting — went to The Texas Newsroom, the statewide public radio collaboration that KERA leads.

KERA won Murrows for an Art&Seek video by Dane Walters and for the station's multimedia approach to in-depth projects like One Crisis Away, Art&Seek Spotlight and On Our Minds, KERA's mental health initiative.

Stations that are part of The Texas Newsroom collected 13 of the 16 regional Murrows in the large-market radio division. Texas Standard, the program the four stations co-produce, earned three regional Murrows. In the small-market radio division, Marfa Public Radio won all 10 regional awards.

The regions cover Texas and Oklahoma. Winners automatically qualify for the national Murrow competition.

Here's the full list of regional Murrow winners. And here are KERA's awards:

• Breaking News: KERA and The Texas Newsroom, for coverage of the El Paso mass shooting.
• Multimedia: KERA for its in-depth projects One Crisis Away, On Our Minds and Art&Seek Spotlight.
• Excellence in Video: Dane Walters, Art&Seek Spotlight: Jordan Mathis — Visual Time-Lapse Artist.

The Texas Newsroom, the statewide public radio project that KERA leads, earned top national honors for collaboration from the Public Media Journalists Association. The award -- for coverage of last year's mass shooting in El Paso -- was one of 13 collected by stations that are part of The Texas Newsroom.

Six of those trophies went to Texas Standard. KUT and TPR won three other awards each.

Guns & America, a national collaboration that includes KERA, also won second-place honors in two categories from PMJA, formerly known as the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI).

• Collaborative Effort: KERA and The Texas Newsroom, for coverage of the El Paso mass shooting.

The Texas Newsroom's coverage of last year's El Paso shooting also earned a national Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media. The Gracies recognize exemplary programing created by, for and about women in radio, television and interactive media.

• Crisis Coverage (non-commercial local radio division): KERA and The Texas Newsroom, for coverage of the El Paso mass shooting.

Two videos produced for KERA by Thorne Anderson earned national awards for creative research in visual communication from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. One was part of KERA's "One Crisis Away" project, which explores life on the financial edge. The other is part of "On Our Minds," KERA's mental-health initiative. Here are details:

• 2nd place: Thorne Anderson for KERA, One Crisis Away: The Price of Prison - Ed Ates
• 3rd place: Thorne Anderson for KERA, On Our Minds: The Caregivers: Tech Guerrero

Two videos from KERA's series "One Crisis Away: The Price of Prison" earned videographer Thorne Anderson a pair of honors from the National Press Photographers Association's Quarterly Multimedia Contest. 

• Multimedia Individual, Long: Thorne Anderson, One Crisis Away: The Price of Prison -- Ed Ates.
• Multimedia Individual, Short: Thorne Anderson, One Crisis Away: The Price of Prison -- Marc Wilson

KERA collected 10 statewide awards from the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters. Four of those were first-place awards, and two KERA reporters — Stella M. Chávez and Mallory Falk — are double winners.

Chávez won first-place honors in specialty or beat reporting for her immigration coverage and second place for radio reporter of the year. Falk, who is KERA's Report For America Fellow based in El Paso, was runner-up in two categories, specialty or beat reporting and light feature.

The statewide public radio newsmagazine Texas Standard also earned 10 Texas AP Broadcasters awards for the largest radio broadcasters. Texas Standard originates from KUT in Austin and is co-produced by KERA, Houston Public Media and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. KUT collected eight other awards, including overall excellence in radio. Houston Public Media earned two honors.

The four stations are part of The Texas Newsroom, a landmark public radio collaboration that also includes NPR and smaller stations across the state. Members of the collaboration won top honors in 14 of 20 large-radio categories, and 29 of 38 awards presented overall.

Here are KERA's winners:

• Specialty or Beat Reporting: (1st place): Stella M. Chávez, Immigration Coverage. (2nd place): Mallory Falk, Border Coverage.
• General Assignment (1st place): Christopher Connelly, "How Trauma And Homelessness Are Linked." (2nd place): Bill Zeeble, "'Little Egypt:' A Nearly-Lost Freedmen's Town in Dallas Resurfaces Thanks To College's Digging."
• Use of Actuality-Production (1st place): Miguel Perez, "At The State Fair Of Texas, Home Cooks Vie For Coveted 'Best In Show' Ribbon."
• Digital (1st place): KERA.
• Reporter (2nd place): Stella M. Chávez.
• Series (2nd place): Courtney Collins, "One Crisis Away: The Price of Prison."
• Feature, Light (2nd place): Mallory Falk, "Interactive Art Installation Lets Strangers Talk To Each Other Across The Border."
• Commentary (2nd place): Lee Cullum, "Placido Domingo's Sexual Harassment Allegations."

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