News Station of the Year

WBUR honored with prestigious journalism award.

FOR THE THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR, the regional Associated Press named WBUR “News Station of the Year” for its continuing coverage of the war in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The Associated Press also honored WBUR reporter Martha Bebinger with the “Enterprise Reporting Award” for her work on “Health Care Disparities.” Monica Brady-Myerov received the “Feature Reporting Award” for her work on “Harry Potter in Braille.” Sean Cole received the “Use of Sound Award” for his work on “Shakespeare Festival.”

The Radio-Television News Directors Association (which issues the coveted Edward R. Murrow Award) also recently honored WBUR with seven awards at a regional ceremony in Sturbridge, MA. “This is really great news for all of us at the station,” said managing director of news and programming Sam Fleming. “We’re very proud that WBUR won more awards than any other public radio station in the country.”

In addition to “Overall Excellence” and “Best News Documentary” for “Snakeheads and Slavery,” WBUR also won for “Best Continuing Coverage” for Hurricane Katrina, “Best Feature Hard News” for a report on college drug abuse, “Best News Series” for “Reading, Writing and Race,” “Best Use of Sound” for “Thanksgiving Day Plumbers,” and “Best Web Site.”

“I’d like to congratulate all of the hard working journalists at WBUR,”said news director John Davidow. “Winning these awards, especially ‘News Station of the Year’ and ‘Overall Excellence’ is such a wonderful endorsement of the consistent high quality of work the station broadcasts every day.”