KUOW wins Three Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards

May 6, 2021

Seattle, WA — KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio has won three 2021 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, which honor outstanding achievement in broadcast and digital journalism. The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) announced the full list of regional winners today. All winners will automatically be entered into consideration for national Edward R. Murrow Awards.

KUOW received awards in the News Series and Digital categories, as well as Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a new category this year. Northwest News Network also received an award in the Feature Reporting category for a story by Tom Banse and KUOW Editor Derek Wang.

“Local journalists across the country guided Americans through a pandemic, ongoing racial reckoning and a fraught election cycle, despite facing unprecedented operational challenges and an astonishing number of physical attacks during 2020,” said Dan Shelley, RTDNA executive director and chief operating officer, in RTDNA's announcement of the award winners. “The persistence of the regional Murrow Award winners we recognize today is a testament to these journalists’ commitment to their First Amendment duty.”

KUOW is thankful to our dedicated journalists and community, who make this work possible. Below, learn more about KUOW's winning stories.

2021 REGIONAL EDWARD R. MURROW AWARDS

See full list of winners on the RTDNA website.

News Series

School Abuse

Reported by Ann Dornfeld. Edited by Liz Jones.

A KUOW investigation, led by reporter Ann Dornfeld, found that Seattle Public Schools allowed teachers who harmed students to remain in the classroom. Following Dornfeld’s reporting, three teachers were removed.

caption: A still from a surveillance video of a Meany Middle School student being thrown out of class. Moments before, the student's teacher, James Johnson, punched him in the jaw.

Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Rooted in Liberation

Reported by Jenna Hanchard. Edited by Liz Jones.

Rooted in Liberation is a collaboration between KUOW and Lola’s Ink, exploring how the momentum of this current civil uprising can continue the fight that Black and Brown communities in Seattle have led for Black liberation.

caption: Nyema Clark, urban farmer and founder of Nurturing Roots, feeds chickens on Sunday, September 27, 2020, at Nurturing Roots in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

Digital

This award is based on a portfolio of our digital work. Below, see the stories KUOW included in our entry.

The ominous days leading up to the coronavirus outbreak at Life Care Center in Kirkland

Reported by Kim Malcolm, Megan Farmer, and Isolde Raftery. Edited by Isolde Raftery.

KUOW reporters spent days camped outside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, the site of the first known outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, bringing our community — and the world — a close-up account of what was transpiring.

caption: First responders and members of the Kirkland Fire Department arrive at the Life Care Center of Kirkland to transport a resident to the hospital on Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Kirkland.

Seattle Schools knew these teachers abused kids — and let them keep teaching

Reported by Ann Dornfeld. Edited by Liz Jones.

A KUOW investigation found that Seattle Public Schools often allows teachers who harm students to stay in the classroom. Some are allowed to keep teaching even after multiple offenses. This was the first story in Ann Dornfeld's series on school abuse, which led to the removal of three Seattle teachers.

'It was bad.' Three hours on the Covid ICU in Seattle

Reported by Isolde Raftery and Joshua McNichols. Edited by Carol Smith.

KUOW's Isolde Raftery spent an afternoon on the Covid ICU at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Using her tape, reporter Joshua McNichols produced a piece to walk us through the unit, using Raftery as his guide.

caption: Leah Silver tends to her patient on the Covid ICU at the University of Washington Medical Center on April 24, 2020. There are photos of his family on the window.

This Seattle man peddled a coronavirus 'vaccine.' He says he's injected himself and others

Reported by Liz Brazile. Edited by Isolde Raftery.

In May of 2020, KUOW reported that a Seattle microbiologist had come under fire for claiming to have produced and administered a vaccine for Covid-19. He has since been arrested on federal misdemeanor charges.

caption: Johnny T. Stine, a Seattle-based microbiologist, in his lab at an undisclosed location.

Covid-19 updates in the Northwest

Reporting and editing by KUOW Staff.

Since the onset of the pandemic, KUOW's web team maintained a Covid-19 blog, with daily updates on local outbreaks, changes in local public health guidance, the roll-out of vaccines and more.

caption: A mural of a healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment is shown through the window of a passing King County Metro bus on April 28, 2020, along South Main Street in Seattle. As Seattle businesses, coffee shops and restaurants shut down amid the pandemic, plywood replaced their many entrances and windows. Artists transformed that plywood into murals bearing messages of hope and resilience.

Feature Reporting

Matriarch of Northwest apple industry passes away at age 194. Not a misprint.

Reporting by Tom Banse. Edited by KUOW's Derek Wang.

Northwest News Network's Tom Banse reported on the passing of Washington's "Old Apple Tree," which had come to Fort Vancouver as a seed in 1826.

caption: The historic Old Apple Tree in Vancouver, Washington, died this summer at age 194.