(Seattle-Tacoma) KPLU's newscasts in Morning Edition and All Things Considered won first place in the Society of Professional Journalists' recent "2006 Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition."
In addition, KPLU garnered second place awards for reporters Kirsten Kendrick and Jennifer Wing in the Investigative Reporting category for "Private money in public education"; KPLU's Keith Seinfeld in the General News category for "Smoking ban challenges addicts"; and reporters Keith Seinfeld, Paula Wissel and Bellamy Pailthorp in the Documentary category for "Company towns, then and now", a three-part series that aired in May 2005. Austin Jenkins of Northwest News Network, whose reports from Olympia can be heard on KPLU, won awards in the General News, Investigative and Spot News categories.
The judging was done by professional journalists from the SPJ chapter in Utah.
"The newscast award is a sweet and hard-won award," says KPLU News Director Erin Hennessey. "We work really hard on our newscasts and it's a real team effort. So to be acknowledged for that by our professional peers is deeply gratifying."
The 2006 awards ceremony was held at a banquet Saturday, May 20 at the downtown Seattle Hilton with nearly 300 people in attendance. The event was hosted by Seattle P-I editorial cartoonist and columnist David Horsey and Seattle Times cartoonist Eric Devericks.
The Western Washington Pro Chapter of SPJ, which hosted the event, also honored two local journalism icons with posthumous lifetime achievement awards: longtime Seattle P-I photographer Phil Webber and local broadcasting legend Don McGaffin.
In 2005, KPLU won four awards presented by SPJ, including two first place awards for General News and Documentary, and in 2004, KPLU captured first place in Investigative Reporting and Feature News Reporting.
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