WKSU was honored with two national PRNDI Awards from Public Radio News Directors, Inc. WKSU competes with public radio stations across the country in Division A, representing newsrooms with seven to 15 full-time staff. The awards were presented during PRNDI’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.
Second-place PRNDI Awards went to M.L. Schultze for Best Nationally Edited Feature and Amanda Rabinowitz for Best Newscast.
Rabinowitz is the local producer/host for NPR’s Morning Edition. The submitted newscast from February 2018 included a report on a death after a local school shooting and high school protests in response to the Parkland shooting. She also offered election coverage, weather updates and other local news. Rabinowitz produces her newscasts each morning for airing beginning at 5 a.m.
Schultze reported about eBay’s first-in-the-nation Retail Revival, a partnership with Akron and more than 100 small businesses. The venture included training for sellers in online marketing and a shared brick and mortar shopping space in the city’s Northside District. Her story aired on NPR in March 2018.
Nearly 190 awards were given for work created in 2018. During the conference, PRNDI membership voted to rename the organization (which began as the Public Radio News Directors Association in the early 1980s) as the Public Media Journalists Association.