88.5 WFDD wins regional Edward R. Murrow Award for ‘Overall Excellence’
The following is a guest post from 88.5 WFDD.
88.5 WFDD, the NPR-affiliate station licensed to Wake Forest University and serving 32 counties in the Piedmont and High Country of North Carolina, has been honored with the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for “Overall Excellence” for its work in 2020; this is the fourth consecutive year that WFDD has been recognized in the “Overall Excellence” category. The award commends a year of high-quality reporting that includes the station’s coverage of the pandemic, the local protests after the murder of George Floyd and a pivotal election. Of note is WFDD’s commitment to bringing listeners the most critical COVID-19 information with a live blog in both English and Spanish to serve our community at large. To connect on a deeper level, WFDD also launched a series of virtual community conversations that invited listeners to discussions about race, education during the pandemic and how to safeguard your vote.
“It goes without saying that this has been a challenging year, but it’s also been an incredibly meaningful one, as the importance of local journalism has been cast in a new light,” said News Director Emily McCord. “It has been our mission and privilege to serve our community in this way and we are humbled by this incredible honor.”
The Radio Television Digital News Association has been recognizing outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of broadcast and digital journalism. WFDD competes in a region that includes large market radio stations in North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition.