Boston (May 24, 2022) - GBH News has won seven regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, including the Overall Excellence award for the third consecutive year. The multiplatform news outlet was also recognized for its investigative series, “Unseen: The Boy Victims of the Sex Trade,” which won the categories of Investigative Reporting, Excellence in Writing and the outlet’s second consecutive win in the category of Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. GBH News was also honored in the Excellence in Innovation category for the accessible photo essay, “Breaking Barriers - Photos from Michelle Wu’s Boston Victory” and won the categories of Feature Reporting and Sports Reporting.
CAI, the Cape, Coast, and Islands NPR station and GBH’s sister station, was recognized in the category of Breaking News Coverage for their reporting of the 2021 Nor’easter that knocked out power on Cape Cod and Islands, and the station won the Hard News category for reporting on right whales.
Awarded by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), the Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards pay tribute to important and high-impact local journalism and are among the most prestigious awards in the news industry. Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards, which are expected to be announced over the summer.
“GBH News and CAI journalists continue to prove their expertise at pivoting and adapting to the current local news landscape,” said Pam Johnston, general manager of GBH News. “I am exceptionally proud of our team for delivering timely and important stories that showcase how critical trusted local journalism is to the community.”
In addition to GBH News’ award for Overall Excellence, a full list of the awards won by GBH News and CAI can be found here:
● “Unseen: The Boy Victims of the Sex Trade” won for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Excellence in Writing, and Investigative Reporting. This six-part investigative series offered documented evidence of thousands of boys and young men who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation — far more than previously understood. The GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting story was deeply reported over many months by Deputy Investigative Editor Jenifer McKim and Senior Investigative Reporter Phillip Martin, with help from Investigations Editor Paul Singer. The investigation was initiated by McKim’s investigative journalism class at Boston University.
● The accessible photo essay, “Breaking Barriers - Photos from Michelle Wu’s Boston Victory,” won for Excellence in Innovation. GBH Director of Photography Meredith Nierman photographed and produced the essay in collaboration with Digital Producer Meghan Smith and Managing Editor Ellen London. The documentation of Michelle Wu’s historic mayoral win put accessibility at the forefront, using a photo accessibility module originally developed by GBH News in collaboration with Bryan Gould, Claire Houston and Madeleine Rothberg at GBH’s National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and Gene Yoon and Tim Kinnel in GBH’s Digital department.
● “This church is paying ‘royalties’ when it sings spirituals composed by enslaved Africans” won in the Feature Reporting category, one of two honors for reporter Craig LeMoult. The piece followed members of the predominantly white United Parish in Brookline as they navigated how to respectfully sing traditional spiritual songs while simultaneously honoring the lives and culture of the enslaved African people who wrote those songs.
● Craig LeMoult’s “Salem Swimmer Represents U.S. At Her Second Paralympic Games” won in the category of Sports Reporting. The piece documented the journey of Salem, Massachusetts’ Cailin Currie, a competitive swimmer who is also visually impaired, as she heads to Tokyo for the Paralympic Games.
● In the Small Market Radio category, CAI won the award for Breaking News Coverage for their reporting on the October 2021 Nor’easter that knocked out power on Cape Cod & Islands. Additionally, CAI was honored in the Hard News category forFishermen, Feeling Blamed for Right Whale Entanglements, Say #ShowUsTheRope. In this piece, Eve Zuckoff followed the story of Snow Cone, an entangled right whale found in Cape Cod Bay in March of 2021, and the group of fishermen claiming they are being unfairly blamed for the decline of the right whale species.
The Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards build on an impressive awards season for GBH News. In April, Saraya Wintersmith won the Portrait/Biography in Non-Commercial Local award at the 47th annual Gracie Awards. Presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, Wintersmith won for her story “Like Other Arab Americans In Politics, Boston's Essaibi George Faces Questions About Her Identity,” which explored the topic of identity among Arab Americans in politics. Craig LeMoult recently won a Gabriel Award for “This church is paying ‘royalties’ when it sings spirituals composed by enslaved Africans.” Callie Crossley, host of Under the Radar with Callie Crossley, Basic Black and a GBH News commentator received an honorary doctorate from Tufts University and Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen received an honorary doctorate from MassArt.
About GBH News
GBH News is among the fastest-growing local news providers in Greater Boston and draws on the talent of a multiplatform newsroom that includes GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; television; and digital reporting. The GBH newsroom continues to invest in substantive local coverage and has established dedicated desks for higher education, politics, innovation and investigations as well as unique partnerships to expand on that commitment, including with WNYC’s The Takeaway, The World from PRX and The GroundTruth Project. GBH News partners with CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station; and New England Public Media in western Massachusetts to connect the Commonwealth with trusted journalism. GBH News maintains bureaus at the Massachusetts State House; Dorchester, Boston’s largest neighborhood; and Worcester. The Forum Network, part of GBH News, collects thousands of video and audio lectures from the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policymakers and community leaders and makes them available online to the public for free.
GBH News investigative series, “Unseen: The Boy Victims of the Sex Trade” received three honors and the accessible photo series “Breaking Barriers - Photos From Michelle Wu’s Boston Victory” wins for Excellence in Innovation.
CAI, the Cape, Islands and Coast NPR station and a part of GBH, also honored with two awards
Boston (May 24, 2022) - GBH News has won seven regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, including the Overall Excellence award for the third consecutive year. The multiplatform news outlet was also recognized for its investigative series, “Unseen: The Boy Victims of the Sex Trade,” which won the categories of Investigative Reporting, Excellence in Writing and the outlet’s second consecutive win in the category of Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. GBH News was also honored in the Excellence in Innovation category for the accessible photo essay, “Breaking Barriers - Photos from Michelle Wu’s Boston Victory” and won the categories of Feature Reporting and Sports Reporting.
CAI, the Cape, Coast, and Islands NPR station and GBH’s sister station, was recognized in the category of Breaking News Coverage for their reporting of the 2021 Nor’easter that knocked out power on Cape Cod and Islands, and the station won the Hard News category for reporting on right whales.
Awarded by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), the Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards pay tribute to important and high-impact local journalism and are among the most prestigious awards in the news industry. Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards, which are expected to be announced over the summer.
“GBH News and CAI journalists continue to prove their expertise at pivoting and adapting to the current local news landscape,” said Pam Johnston, general manager of GBH News. “I am exceptionally proud of our team for delivering timely and important stories that showcase how critical trusted local journalism is to the community.”
In addition to GBH News’ award for Overall Excellence, a full list of the awards won by GBH News and CAI can be found here:
● “Unseen: The Boy Victims of the Sex Trade” won for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Excellence in Writing, and Investigative Reporting. This six-part investigative series offered documented evidence of thousands of boys and young men who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation — far more than previously understood. The GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting story was deeply reported over many months by Deputy Investigative Editor Jenifer McKim and Senior Investigative Reporter Phillip Martin, with help from Investigations Editor Paul Singer. The investigation was initiated by McKim’s investigative journalism class at Boston University.
● The accessible photo essay, “Breaking Barriers - Photos from Michelle Wu’s Boston Victory,” won for Excellence in Innovation. GBH Director of Photography Meredith Nierman photographed and produced the essay in collaboration with Digital Producer Meghan Smith and Managing Editor Ellen London. The documentation of Michelle Wu’s historic mayoral win put accessibility at the forefront, using a photo accessibility module originally developed by GBH News in collaboration with Bryan Gould, Claire Houston and Madeleine Rothberg at GBH’s National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and Gene Yoon and Tim Kinnel in GBH’s Digital department.
● “This church is paying ‘royalties’ when it sings spirituals composed by enslaved Africans” won in the Feature Reporting category, one of two honors for reporter Craig LeMoult. The piece followed members of the predominantly white United Parish in Brookline as they navigated how to respectfully sing traditional spiritual songs while simultaneously honoring the lives and culture of the enslaved African people who wrote those songs.
● Craig LeMoult’s “Salem Swimmer Represents U.S. At Her Second Paralympic Games” won in the category of Sports Reporting. The piece documented the journey of Salem, Massachusetts’ Cailin Currie, a competitive swimmer who is also visually impaired, as she heads to Tokyo for the Paralympic Games.
● In the Small Market Radio category, CAI won the award for Breaking News Coverage for their reporting on the October 2021 Nor’easter that knocked out power on Cape Cod & Islands. Additionally, CAI was honored in the Hard News category forFishermen, Feeling Blamed for Right Whale Entanglements, Say #ShowUsTheRope. In this piece, Eve Zuckoff followed the story of Snow Cone, an entangled right whale found in Cape Cod Bay in March of 2021, and the group of fishermen claiming they are being unfairly blamed for the decline of the right whale species.
The Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards build on an impressive awards season for GBH News. In April, Saraya Wintersmith won the Portrait/Biography in Non-Commercial Local award at the 47th annual Gracie Awards. Presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, Wintersmith won for her story “Like Other Arab Americans In Politics, Boston's Essaibi George Faces Questions About Her Identity,” which explored the topic of identity among Arab Americans in politics. Craig LeMoult recently won a Gabriel Award for “This church is paying ‘royalties’ when it sings spirituals composed by enslaved Africans.” Callie Crossley, host of Under the Radar with Callie Crossley, Basic Black and a GBH News commentator received an honorary doctorate from Tufts University and Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen received an honorary doctorate from MassArt.
About GBH News
GBH News is among the fastest-growing local news providers in Greater Boston and draws on the talent of a multiplatform newsroom that includes GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; television; and digital reporting. The GBH newsroom continues to invest in substantive local coverage and has established dedicated desks for higher education, politics, innovation and investigations as well as unique partnerships to expand on that commitment, including with WNYC’s The Takeaway, The World from PRX and The GroundTruth Project. GBH News partners with CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station; and New England Public Media in western Massachusetts to connect the Commonwealth with trusted journalism. GBH News maintains bureaus at the Massachusetts State House; Dorchester, Boston’s largest neighborhood; and Worcester. The Forum Network, part of GBH News, collects thousands of video and audio lectures from the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policymakers and community leaders and makes them available online to the public for free.
