News Release

CHAPEL HILL – In the first four months of 2005, North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC (91.5 FM) has garnered more regional and national awards for broadcasting and news reporting excellence than the station has won in any previous year.

"These awards signify that North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC has reached a new level of recognition for journalistic excellence," said Brent Wolfe, WUNC news editor. "The awards reflect the station’s dedication to expanding coverage of North Carolina and would not be possible without the teamwork of everyone at North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC. It is a privilege to report for such an intelligent and dedicated audience, and it is gratifying to have that work recognized by our broadcasting and reporting colleagues."

In January through April 2005, WUNC’s news department has received the following awards:

• For the second year in a row, WUNC has won the Overall Excellence Award as part of the regional Edward R. Murrow Awards given by the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA). The station’s entry included excerpts of stories from the entire news department staff. As winners of a region that covers North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia, WUNC will compete nationally against winners from 13 other regions. 
  
• WUNC also won RTNDA’s regional Continuing Coverage Award for the station’s election coverage, and Leoneda Inge’s story about collard greens won the Use of Sound Award in that competitive category. 
  
• WUNC won 11 awards from the Radio Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas (RTNDAC) – almost twice as many as any other station. Recognized reporters and their winning stories follow:

• Inge, first place, Spot News, for "Ballance Withdrawals;" second place, General News, for "National Guard Homecoming;" and second place, Health, for "Historically Black Colleges and Universities and HIV";
  
• Rusty Jacobs, first place, General News category, for "Soldiers After Battle;" and first place, Political/Election category, for his story on then-U.S. Senator John Edwards’ campaign volunteers;
  
• Jessica Jones, first place, Education, for "Rosenwald Schools"
  
• Laura Leslie, second place, Spot News, for "Pickle Deal;" and second place, Political/Election, for her profile on Governor Easley; and
  
• Dave DeWitt, first place, Sports, for "Duke-UNC."

• The news team also placed first for RTNDAC awards in the Best Newscast and Best Series ("Touched by War") categories.
  
• The North Carolina Associated Press recognized several WUNC reporters for their work:

• Inge, Best News Writing, for her story about the National Guard homecoming;
  
• David Brower, Best Use of Sound, for his story about a silent run in Chapel Hill to mark September 11^th;
  
• Freelancer Leda Hartman, Best Consumer Report, for her story about indoor plumbing in Chatham County; and
  
• Freelancer James Todd, Best Sports Programming, for his story about quail hunting.

• In addition, three WUNC reporters received honorable mentions in the general news category: Leslie, for her profile of Governor Easley; Jones, for her story about the march marking the anniversary of the Greensboro murders; and Inge, for her story about an HIV/STD conference for historically black colleges (also honorable mention for Best Health Report).
  
• American Women in Radio and Television again recognized the work of the WUNC News Department with a Gracie Allen Award. Inge won in the Public Radio Programming News Story–Single Entry category for "Business Lessons," a story that followed a group of women from the Middle East taking classes at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. Inge is now a two-time Gracie Award winner, having won in the same category in 2002 for her profile of a woman looking for work. WUNC has now won four Gracie Awards in a row: in addition to Inge’s two wins, the news department was recognized for the "Touched By War" series done in 2003, and Patty Painter-Wakefield won in 2001 for her "North Carolina Postcards" series.
  
• Inge also received two awards at the Region IV conference of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Inge’s story on an HIV/STD conference for historically black colleges won in the Radio Features Reporting category, and her "Basketball Mom" commentary for the WUNC-produced show, The State of Things, won in the Sports News category.  Region IV of NABJ covers North and South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
  
• The Society of Professional Journalists has named the finalists for its Green Eyeshade Awards, which recognize journalists in 11 southeastern states. Several WUNC reporters have been named as finalists:

• Inge, Business, "Kingsdown Mattresses" and "Middle Eastern Business Women;"
  
• Jones, General News, "Greensboro Murders;"
  
• Leslie, General News, "Haywood Floods;" and
  
• Todd, Sports, "Quail Hunting."

• The WUNC news team is also a finalist in the Green Eyeshades’ Investigative category for the series "Touched by War." Awards for first, second, and third place will be announced on May 14.
  

Many of these award-winning stories are available for listening on WUNC’s archives at www.ibiblio.org/wunc_archives/news.

North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC is a service of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, broadcasting at 91.5 FM in the Triangle and Triad, at 90.9 FM in Rocky Mount/Wilson, and at 88.9 FM on the Outer Banks.

-30-

North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC contact: Brent Wolfe, (919) 966-5454, bwolfe@wunc.org

News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093