KJZZ News Wins Journalism Awards

July 12, 2011

Photo of KJZZ news awardsKJZZ News reporters and staff received several journalism awards for their work in 2011. The KJZZ News Team won a Radio Television Digital News Association Edward R Murrow Award and a Public Radio News Director Inc. Award (PRNDI) for its Continuing Coverage of SB1070 and the issue of illegal immigration.

KJZZ’s Here and Now won a PRNDI Award for Public Affairs/Public Affairs Program for a show entitled Arizona’s Fiscal Nightmare, which examined the state’s huge budget shortfall caused by the housing market collapse and recession.  KJZZ’s Paul Atkinson earned a Murrow Award for writing for two stories, one that examined the drop in crime in one Phoenix neighborhood, and another on bark beetles.

News Director Peter O'Dowd was recognized by the Associate Press Television Radio Association for News Writing for his story on a dangerous train immigrants try to board on Mexico's southern border.  The same story won a First Place News Feature Award from PRNDI. O’Dowd also won Second Place for PRNDI’s Best Writing category for a story on a Phoenix couple trying to avoid foreclosure.  KJZZ’s Marcos Najera earned a Second Place PRNDI Award for Breaking News for a story on the arrests of SB1070 protestors.