ABC News Honored with 2015 Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence in Television and Overall Excellence in Radio - 5 Total
— -- Today the RTDNA announced the 2015 National Edward R. Murrow Awards honoring ABC News with its highest achievements for Overall Excellence in Television and Overall Excellence in Radio – 2 years in a row, a first for the network. ABC News won 5 awards in total.
ABC News president James Goldston sent the following note to staff.
I'm extremely proud to announce that ABC News has won the most prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence in Television and Overall Excellence in Radio for the second year in a row – an historic first for the network.
The RTDNA judges awarded ABC News with its two highest achievements praising the breadth and depth of our journalism as having "top-notch" daily news coverage, "extremely creative" special programming and feature work and "outstanding" writing. For the fourth year in a row we were also awarded five awards in total.
These wins mean so much to us because the awards recognize the hard work of every single person that works at ABC News across all our platforms. The honor reflects your commitment to excellence in journalism and storytelling - and working as a team to make it all possible.
It was a year of extraordinary stories around the globe - the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, the police shooting and riots in Ferguson, the crisis in the Middle East in Gaza and Israel, our breaking news coverage on Malaysia Airlines Flights 17 and 370, the revolution in Ukraine and the rise of and battle against ISIS - to name a few.
ABC News’ anchors conducted interviews with the biggest newsmakers, including an exclusive sit down with Officer Darren Wilson and the first interview with Hillary Clinton on her book. Our investigative team produced game-changing investigations on highway guard rails and recalls. Our Global Affairs Team showed our long-term commitment to telling the stories of men and women who have returned home from a war zone and what they live through each day. We travelled to the Syrian border to cover the child refugees working to support their families. And created a compelling special, "Young Guns," that spurred a nationwide dialogue.
I want to extend a special congratulations to Radio for a banner year - winning three more Murrow awards. Radio stations count on ABC News Radio when news breaks. The radio team works tirelessly with unmatched production and groundbreaking reporting every day. RTDNA recognized Radio for Breaking News – The Shooting at Fort Hood, Brad Mielke for Sports – Spartan Racing and Writing – Scott Goldberg.
Thank you for all that you do. Your unwavering passion, commitment and teamwork drives us forward every day.
Onwards to an exciting year ahead.
James
On April 2, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez opened fire at Ft. Hood, Texas – a military base that had seen mass killing before. Soon after word first came shots were fired, ABC News Radio raced on the air with live, continuing coverage of what was then an active shooter situation on base. ABC’s Cheri Preston and Alex Stone lead our coverage, calling on Correspondent Jim Ryan as he rushed to Ft. Hood, and ABC’s Martha Raddatz – relying on their familiarity with the base, its people, and history to offer context to our listeners as new details of the event came in. In the hours after that first report, ABC News Radio stayed on the story, learning the gunman’s name, background, possible motivation, and death toll – four dead including Lopez.
The days of company softball games are over. America’s weekend warriors have a new obsession: extreme obstacle course racing, where millions of entrants are more than willing to slog through sludge and barbed wire for little more than a T-shirt and a pat on the back. Armed with a microphone and fresh stick of deodorant, ABC’s Brad Mielke went to Citi Field in New York to run a race himself.
_______________________________________________________ Writing - Radio , ,Scott Goldberg ABC News Radio , ,
Punctuation has its own holiday. A man almost dies. A tech company buys a mobile app. By themselves, these are headlines – and they might catch your attention. But with sharp writing, these events turn into stories listeners remember. Scott Goldberg enlivens everyday news by choosing the right words, introducing memorable characters and using sound creatively.