VPR Wins Two Gracie Awards For Tropical Storm Irene Coverage

Vermont Public Radio has been honored with two 2012 Gracie Awards® for its coverage of Tropical Storm Irene. The Vermont Edition staff was recognized in the public media category for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage following Tropical Storm Irene. Reporter and Vermont Edition Producer Samantha Fields was recognized in the Outstanding Hard News Feature category for her story, “Town Rallies Around Residents Who Lost Homes,” in Plymouth.

In the days following Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont Edition provided critical information to people in need, including breaking news about washed out roads and bridges, utility outages, and emergency food and shelter resources. The program broadcast updates from emergency management officials, and state and local officials, assisted with inquires about missing persons, and provided extensive resources online for those affected, and for those looking to volunteer. Vermont Edition expanded its broadcast format to provide two-hour live programs twice a day, focused on storm response and relief efforts.

Managing Producer Patti Daniels said, "those were long days, but the awful circumstances that were enveloping so many towns drove us to keep providing as many resources and services as possible. We're honored to be recognized, but our real motivation is the faith and reliance that listeners placed in us during and after the storm."

The Gracie Awards are presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, for excellence in programming created for women, by women and about women. The Gracies strive to encourage the realistic and faceted portrayal of women in entertainment, commercials, news, features and other programs. A full list of 2012 Gracie Award winners can be found here.

VPR Wins Its 4th Daysie Award

VPR has been honored with a Seven Daysie award for Best Radio Station for the fourth consecutive year! The Daysies are voted on each year by readers of the Burlington-based weekly paper Seven Days and cover restaurants, artists, stores, festivals, journalists, media and more around Vermont.

We're honored to be the top pick again this year. It is an honor be your essential and trusted independent voice for news, information, music and cultural exploration. Your support and desire for quality programming makes it all possible.

Congratulations to all the winners! You can see a full list of Daysies winners here.

VPR News Wins Three PRNDI Awards

I had the honor over the weekend to accept three from our peers in public radio at the annual conference of Public Radio News Directors Inc.

VPR competes in the large station category for PRNDI and won two first-place awards and one second.

Jane Lindholm won first in the Use Of Sound category for one of the Summer School pieces on Vermont Edition. Jane taught us how to milk a cow. There's nothing like hearing the milk hit the bottom of the pail or the cows bellowing to sonically take you to the barn.

Commentator Madeleine Kunin took a first for her commentary "Requiem." She told of hearing a performance of Verdi's Requiem in Burlington on the anniversary of a similar performance at the Theresienstadt Nazi concentration camp outside Prague. I won't give away the ending, except to say it's worth listening to this poignant piece.

And, finally, VPR News took a second place for spot news coverage of the 2010 election when Brian Dubie conceded in the governor's race.

These awards may have been won by individuals, but they represent the hard work of the entire team of reporters, producers and hosts who bring you VPR News every day. And we hope they also demonstrate how valuable our listeners' support is in producing meaningful reporting.

VPR Wins Six Edward R. Murrow Awards

We are thrilled to announce that VPR has been honored with six regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association.

VPR received awards for its coverage of Captain Richard Phillips, who was taken captive by pirates off the Somali coast, Lynne McCrea's continuing coverage of a homeless family in Chittenden County, Nina Keck's investigative reporting on Vermont National Guard members who said they were denied promotions and permanent positions, our Champlain 400 series, Steve Zind's report on UVM's women's basketball team in the NCAA basketball tournament, and VPR.net's news pages.

I caught up with Steve Zind to talk about his award-winning story, UVM Falls To UCONN In First Round:

This was one of my favorite assignments because it was so much fun! Having a court-side seat to watch the awesome UConn team was a thrill, but the best part was seeing the UVM women give their all against impossible odds and do it so cheerfully. They were inspiring. So were the Catamount fans who traveled to Connecticut for the game. That's what I tried to capture in the story. Plus, there was so much sound: the bands, the cheerleaders, the PA announcer, the radio play by play guy sitting next to me and the crowd. Having all that to work with helped me give listeners a real feel for what it was like to be there.

When I look at the number of regional and national Murrows VPR has won in recent years, I think its a real testament to how well things work around here. If the engineering, production, promotion, membership, underwriting and programming folks weren't as good as they are, the reporters wouldn't have the resources to do what we do.

You’ll find links the award-winning coverage at our website. Thank you for making this kind of award-winning news coverage possible!

And speaking of awards, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is among the winners of the 2009 George Foster Peabody Awards for her "precise, courageous and often moving accounts" from Afghanistan. Learn more about her award and listen to her coverage here. Congrats, Soraya!

Bob Kinzel Is Distinguished

The Vermont Association of Broadcasters recognized VPR's Bob Kinzel this week for something we've recognized a long time: his distinguished service.

Bob's been reporting the news from Montpelier since 1977 -- after a stint at WJOY in the Burlington area, where he was hired by VPR's own Joel Najman. For years, Bob operated the Vermont News Service. His stories were heard on radio stations around the state. Bob eventually started hosting call-in programs on VPR and joined the staff full-time in 2002. He's recognized in Montpelier as the dean of the Statehouse reporting corps.

Bob was one of two long-time radio journalists honored by the association with the distinguished service award. The other was Tim Johnson of WTSA in Brattleboro, who's been reporting from Windham County since 1973.

The VAB inducted two people into the Vermont Broadcasters Hall of Fame, including Marselis Parsons, the longtime WCAX-TV anchor who recently retired. The other was Belva Keyworth, a broadcasting pioneer who died in 2004. She owned WBTN AM and FM for nearly 50 years. VPR now broadcasts on WBTN-FM in Bennington, fullfilling Keyworth's vision to maintain the station as a community resource.

Our colleague in public broadcasting, Ann Curran of Vermont Public Television, was honored by the VAB as Broadcaster of the Year for her work in helping television stations in Vermont convert to digital transmission.

Community service awards went to Ray Kimball, general manager of WCFR in Springfield, WKOL-FM in Burlington, and Nassau Broadcasting’s WWFY-FM, WORK-FM, WSNO-AM, WMOO-FM and WIKE-AM.

Congratulations to Bob and the many other fine honorees!

Congratulations, Nina!

VPR's Nina Keck was in New York City last week to accept her national Edward R. Murrow Award for her story about the final exam for an oxen driving class. Below, Nina is with NPR's Melissa Block and Frank Langfit. Listen to her Murrow Award winning story, Final Exam with a Twist. Congratulations, Nina!

Jane Lindholm interviews Robert Siegel and Dina Temple-Raston

We were thrilled to welcome NPR's All Things Considered Host Robert Siegel and National Security Correspondent Dina Temple-Raston to Vermont last weekend to celebrate VPR's successful Creating a Sound Future endowment campaign. Visit our website for audio of Jane Lindholm's interview with Robert and Dina.

VPR Wins National Awards for Community Impact

VPR has received two My Source Community Impact Awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for bringing the community together through our My Vermont and Vermont Reads projects in 2008. Read more and listen to both series at our website.

Thank you for supporting this kind of programming. It is an honor to do what we do, and your support and desire for quality programming makes it all possible.