Pubradio won a pair of medals for reportage on youth and families.
WYNC’s Radio Rookies won a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for Coming of Age in 2011, a series of reports covering youth-identity issues such as immigration status, mental-health diagnoses, the foster care system and the process of coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The award was given in the College Park, Md.–based organization’s new youth-media category.
“It’s a rare treat to listen to a first-person narrative that moves you; it’s even rarer to find storytellers who are brave enough to confront their own issues and face other people who may not always tell them what they want to hear,” judges said.
Among the Rookies and WNYC producers cited for the medal were Beatrice Aquino, Tim Brown-Martinez, Brianna Fugate, Michael Jacobson, Alicia Martinez, Jimmy Musa, Kaari Pitkin, Sanda Htyte, Marianne McCune, Courtney Stein, Veralyn Williams and Mike Jones.
In the audio category, NPR won a Casey Medal for “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families,” an investigation into the way financial incentives are removing hundreds of Native American children from their families and assigning them to foster care. “This series epitomizes what radio does best:” said the judges. “Get into your head, into your heart, under your skin in a way that other media just can’t.” Cited were Laura Sullivan, Amy Walters, Barbara Van Woerkom, Alicia Cypress, Alyson Hurt, Nate Rott, Quinn Ford, John Poole, Susanne Reber, Steve Drummond, Keith Jenks and Jonathan Kern.
Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Casey Medals recognize distinguished coverage of disadvantaged children, youth and families. The Journalism Center on Children and Families at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland manages the awards program.
The medalists will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Oct. 18.