WKSU staff was honored with 11 awards from Ohio Associated Press Media Editors (OAPME) in a Columbus ceremony on March 24. Top honors went to WKSU for General Excellence-Radio, the fourth consecutive year the newsroom earned the acknowledgement. The OAPME Awards reflect stand-out work created in 2017.
WKSU Reporter/Digital Editor M.L. Schultze came away the big winner of the OAPME Awards event with four first-place awards (including Best Reporter), more than any other broadcast journalist in the 2017 contest. Schultze was honored for: Best Broadcast Writing for her story of an Akron mother who feared deportation and separation from her children; Best Enterprise Reporting for a report on a rural Ohio ride hailing service; and Best Investigative Reporting for her examination on the role that race and past drug crises have played in Ohio’s response to the opioid epidemic.
For the second year in a row, Reporter/Host Amanda Rabinowitz was named Best Anchor for her work as local host of NPR’s Morning Edition. Rabinowitz also earned a first-place prize for Best Sportscast for her weekly Wednesday conversations with Plain Dealer sports commentator Terry Pluto, along with a second-place award for Best Feature Reporting for her recurring Shuffle segment. Launched in 2017, Shuffle airs on Thursdays and highlights local music in Northeast Ohio.
Reporter/Producer Kabir Bhatia was recognized for Best Use of Sound for his story on Dragon Boat races that raised money for breast cancer research, bringing WKSU News' its seventh first-place award of the day. Second-place OAPME Awards went to the WKSU Staff for its continuing coverage of the Opioid epidemic in Northeast Ohio and to All Things Considered Host/Producer Jeff St. Clair in the Newscast category.
The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative representing 1,400 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States.
COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS:
- Best in Show-General Excellence, WKSU News
- First Place-Best Anchor, Amanda Rabinowitz
- First Place-Best Reporter, M.L. Schultze
- First Place-Best Broadcast Writing, M.L. Schultze—“An Akron Mother and Her Sons Plan for the Once Unimaginable: Separation and Deportation”
- First Place-Best Sportscast, Amanda Rabinowitz and Terry Pluto—“The View from Pluto”
- First Place-Best Use of Sound, Kabir Bhatia—“ The Dragon Invasion of Turkeyfoot Lake Could Net About $20,000 For Breast Cancer Awareness”
- First Place-Best Enterprise Reporting, M.L. Schultze—“Ride Hailing In Rural America: Like Uber With A Neighborly Feel”
- First Place-Best Investigative Reporting, M.L. Schultze—“Race, Deaths and Past Wars on Drugs: All Shape Ohio's Response to the Heroin Crisis”
- Second Place-Best Feature Reporting, Amanda Rabinowitz—“Shuffle”
- Second Place-Best Continuing Coverage, WKSU Staff—“Opioids: Turning the Tide in the Crisis”
- Second Place-Best Newscast, Jeff St. Clair—“All Things Considered”