© 2024 KGOU
News and Music for Oklahoma
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Deadly tornados tore through several Oklahoma communities on May 19, 20 and 31, 2013. These are the stories of natural disaster and its aftermath, and of communities healing and recovering.

Oklahoma Public Media's Tornado Coverage Honored With National Journalism Award

The aftermath of the May 2013 tornado in Moore, Okla.
Joe Wertz
/
StateImpact Oklahoma
The aftermath of the May 20, 2013 tornado in Moore, Okla.

On Wednesday, the Society of Professional Journalists honored KGOU, KOSU, and StateImpact Oklahoma with a national Sigma Delta Chi awardfor collaborative coverage during the immediate aftermath of the May 20, 2013 tornado that devastated Moore.

The award for Breaking News Reporting recognizes Joe Wertz's conversation with NPR's Robert Siegel on All Things Consideredjust hours after the twister killed dozens, including seven children at Plaza Towers Elementary School. He was inadvertently caught in the storm, and one of the first reporters on the scene.

The organization also honored former News Director Kurt Gwartney'spiece on the May 21 episode ofMorning Editionand KOSU Associate Director and General Manager Rachel Hubbard's May 21 All Things Considered story of one survivor allowed to return to her home for the first time.

20130521_me_01.mp3
Kurt Gwartney: Massive Tornado Takes Aim At Moore, Oklahoma

20130521_atc_12.mp3
Rachel Hubbard: Moore Residents Slowly Allowed Into Tornado-Damaged Areas

By the following day, NPR reporters had arrived on the scene and joined the coverage.

In his cover letter to the SPJ describing the pieces, Gwartney highlighted how the two stations and reporting project worked together:

Together, and with the support of other staff at the stations who maintained operations and provided vital information for our audiences, we overcame staffing, personal and logistical problems during this incredible disaster to provide clear, accurate and timely news to not only our local listeners, but to a national audience.

The two public radio stations, licensed to two of Oklahoma's state universities, were already collaborating on one project. KGOU formed a consortium with all public broadcasters in the state nearly three years ago to apply for a pilot project with NPR. 

That project became StateImpact Oklahoma, a two-reporter on-air and online news service designed to show the impact of state and local government policies on individuals, with reports broadcast on KGOU, KOSU, KWGS in Tulsa and KCCU in Lawton.

Credit Society of Professional Journalists

"We've fostered collaboration among all the public broadcasters in Oklahoma in launching and maintaining the StateImpact project," said Karen Holp, General Manager of KGOU and Chair of Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, which oversees StateImpact Oklahoma and other joint projects that might come along in the future. "This news event compelled us to take that collaboration further, and to provide the best service to listeners that we could provide."

The three news organizations join an impressive list of previous winners in the Radio Breaking News category, including NPR for reports in 2012 on lucrative rental deals made by the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, CBS Radio's coverage of the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, and CNN Radio's coverage of Haiti's 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010.

The award will be presented June 20, in Washington, D.C.

----------------------

KGOU is a community-supported news organization and relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online, or by contacting our Membership department.

Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
Laura works to fund journalism and entertainment programming on public radio through individual listener contributions and other funding streams. She is a former radio journalist at KTOK, WKY and other commercial radio stations.
More News
Support nonprofit, public service journalism you trust. Give now.