The prestigious National Headliner Awards, announced April 9 for excellence in print, broadcast and online media by the Press Club of Atlantic City, includes several public media outlets.
The big winner on pubTV was Need to Know from WNET in New York City, which took prizes in three categories: First place for science and health reporting for “Losing the Safety Net,” by Laura LeBlanc, Alison Stewart, Brenda Breslauer, Shelley Lewis and David Kreger; second place, environmental reporting, for “Toxic Law?” by LeBlanc, Dr. Emily Senay, Breslauer, Marc Rosenwasser and Kreger; and third place, TV news magazine, for “Help Wanted: the Uncounted Millions,” by Jessica Wang, William Brangham, Rosenwasser, John Larson, Scott Simon, Judith Starr Wolff and Tim Geraghty.
Two of the CPB-backed local journalism centers also took honors. For radio human interest story, Fronteras and KJZZ in Phoenix won second place for “Mexican Ghost Town” by Michel Marizco and Alisa Barba; and for radio news series, third place went to Changing Gears in Ann Arbor, Mich., for its series on manufacturing.
Two radio awards, best in show and feature and human interest story, went to “Bail Bonds: Fugitives on the Run, Bondsmen on the Hunt,” by Tristram Korten, Dan Grech and Kenny Malone of the Under the Sun series from WLRN and the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting in Miami.
For radio health, medical or science reporting, second place went to “Decoding Prime,” by Lance Williams, Christina Jewett and Stephen K. Doig of California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting.
In the radio breaking news or continuing coverage of a single event, Alabama Public Radio took second place for its coverage of a devastating tornado in Tuscaloosa.
First place in radio documentary or public affairs went to WBEZ in Chicago for its series on the city’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, by Bill Healy and Cate Cahan; second place to WCPN ideastream in Cleveland for The Sound of Ideas program.
For radio breaking news or continuing coverage, third place went to “Local firefighters honor 9/11 first responders,” by Ben Markus of Colorado Public Radio.
Colorado Public Radio also claimed first place for feature and human interest story for “Getting Hands on at Colorado Gators,” by Megan Verlee.
First place for radio documentary or public affairs went to WNYC and PRX for “Living 9/11” by Marianne McCune, Emily Botein, Karen Frillmann and Chris Bannon. Free Speech Radio News in Toledo, Ore., won third place in the category for “Mexico’s Drug War in Context” by Shannon Young and Catherine Komp, a crowd-funded report.
Cleveland’s ideastream also won third place in TV public service for “Lifegiving Transplant Stories,” by Kay Colby, David Molpus and Mark Rosenberger.
TV news environmental reporting, second place was WTTW in Chicago for “Great Lakes Invasion,” by Ash-har Quraishi, Basma Babar-Quraishi and Tom Siegel.
California Watch also won for online-only site.
A full list of 2012 Headliners is here (PDF).