WKSU has received 13 Ohio SPJ Awards from Ohio chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The competition recognized station staff for work. Standout awards for WKSU included Best Reporter in Ohio for Reporter/Producer Kabir Bhatia. Awards were presented on Oct. 25 during a ceremony in Cleveland at PlayhouseSquare’s Westfield Insurance Studio.
Since the addition of broadcast categories in 1998, WKSU has been recognized with more Ohio SPJ awards than any other radio news outlet. WKSU competes in the Ohio SPJ contest with radio stations and journalists from media markets throughout Ohio and stations broadcasting to Ohio from surrounding states.
Bhatia has been a member of the WKSU news staff since 2010. A Hudson native, he is a graduate. As a Kent State student, Bhatia served as a WKSU student assistant, working in the newsroom and for production.
WKSU was runner-up for Best of Show categories, Best News Operation and Best Anchor for Amanda Rabinowitz.
WKSU winners of 2014 Ohio SPJ Awards are:
- Best of Show – Best Reporter in Ohio, Reporter/Producer Kabir Bhatia (body of work — 2013)
- First Place – Best Continuing Coverage, Senior Reporter Tim Rudell for “Fracking”
- First Place – Best General Assignment Reporting, Tim Rudell for “A Homegrown Revival of the Rubber Industry”
- First Place – Best Medical/Science Reporting, Reporter/Producer Jeff St. Clair for “Exploradio: Engineering a Chiari Breakthrough”
- First Place – Best Spot News, Reporter/Producer M.L. Schultze for “Canton Evacuees Get the All Clear”
- Second Place – Best News Operation, WKSU News Staff
- Second Place – Best Anchor, Reporter/Anchor Amanda Rabinowitz for “Morning Edition”
- Second Place – Best Website, IT Director Chuck Poulton for
- Second Place – Best Consumer Reporting, Kabir Bhatia for “Ohio Theatres Make the Drive Toward Digital”
- Second Place – Best Environment Reporting, Jeff St. Clair for “Exploradio: Saving America’s Most Endangered Animals”
- Second Place – Best Feature Reporting, M.L. Schultze for “Gray’s Armory”
- Second Place – Best General Assignment Reporting, Reporter/Producer Kevin Niedermier for “Building on the Success of the National Senior Games”
- Second Place – Best Minority Reporting, Amanda Rabinowitz for “Recent Hate Crimes Have the LGBT Community on Edge”
The 2014 Ohio SPJ Awards competition honors print and broadcast journalists from Ohio and bordering states who best served the public interest in 2013. The awards, which are presented by the Cincinnati, Central Ohio and Cleveland professional chapters of the SPJ, were judged by members of SPJ chapters throughout the U.S.
WKSU is an award-winning public radio station and service of Kent State that broadcasts to 22 counties in Northeast Ohio from the station’s primary signal at 89.7. WKSU content can also be heard over WKRW 89.3 (Wooster), WKRJ 91.5 (Dover/New Philadelphia), WKSV 89.1 (Thompson), WNRK 90.7 (Norwalk) and W239AZ 95.7 (Ashland). The station adds WKSU-2 Folk Alley, WKSU-3 The Classical Channel and WKSU-4 The News Channel over HD Radio and as streaming audio at .
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Media Contact:
Ann VerWiebe, verwiebe@wksu.org, 330-672-9153