Minnesota Public Radio News Wins Multiple MN Associated Press Awards and Places Third in National Headliner Awards

Mar 31, 2011

(St. Paul, Minn.) - March 31, 2011 - Minnesota Public Radio News has won several awards for journalism excellence - nine awards in the 2011 Minnesota Associated Press Awards competition and a third-place National Headliner Award.

"Every day, MPR News delivers quality journalism to our audiences. And every so often, we win awards," said Chris Worthington, managing director, MPR News. "We're grateful for the recognition."

The National Headliner Awards, given by the Press Club of Atlantic City, is one of the oldest and largest competitions recognizing journalistic merit across the nation.

MPR News received a third-place award in the best news series category for, "The Red Bulls: Beyond Deployment," reported by Madeleine Baran, Elizabeth Baier, Elizabeth Dunbar, Ambar Espinoza, Dan Gunderson, Jess Mador, Tom Robertson, Mark Zdechlik; Broadcast editor, Kate Smith; Web editors, Jennifer Ehrlich and Mel Sommer; Interactive producers, Molly Bloom, Andrew Haeg and Julia Schrenkler; Photographers, Jeffrey Thompson and Ann Arbor Miller; Web producers, Rebecca Cioni, Steve Mullis and Than Tibbetts.

The Minnesota Associated Press Awards are awarded annually for outstanding journalism. MPR News received nine MN AP awards for newsrooms with four or more full-time newsroom employees, including:

Best Web Site
MPRNews.org

Best Newscast
"Morning Edition, Nov. 9, 2010"

Best Feature, First Place
"Widow, Ex-wife Moving in together to keep a horse Farm Alive," by Sasha Aslanian, Paul Tosto, and edited by Mike Edgerly

Best in Show, First Place and Best Series, First Place
"Fighting Obesity One Meal at a Time," reported by Lorna Benson, Tom Robertson and Tom Weber; Broadcast editor, Mike Edgerly; Photographer, Jeff Thompson; Web editors, Jennifer Ehrlich and Mel Sommer; Web producer, Than Tibbetts; Interactive producers, Molly Bloom and Drew Geraets.

Best Documentary/Investigative, First Place
"A Closer Look at Tom Emmer's Plan to Cut State Agencies," by Tom Scheck and Mike Mulcahy.

Best Series, Honorable Mention
"Retooling Minnesota's Job Factory," by Annie Baxter, Mark Steil and edited by Bill Catlin.

Best Spot/Hard News, Honorable Mention
"Seward Market Triple Homicide," by Tim Nelson, Laura Yuen, Mark Zdechlik , Tom Crann.

Best Writing, Honorable Mention
"Recent Race Tame Compared to 1990 Gubernational Contest," by Curtis Gilbert, Mike Mulcahy.

The Minnesota AP awards banquet will be held in April, 8 2011 in Bloomington, MN as part of the annual Midwest Journalism Conference.