WFIU and WTIU earned a combined total of 44 awards in regional and national contests this month.
Today, the national Telly Awards named WTIU and IU Radio and Television Services the winners of 14 awards in its annual competition, which honors excellence in video and television across all screens. WTIU’s locally-produced television series Journey Indiana earned seven awards, including a Gold Telly Award in the motivational category, five Silver Telly Awards in the information, sports, editing, automotive/vehicles, and use of music categories, and a Bronze Telly Award in the nature/wildlife category. WTIU’s documentary Bob Hammel & Bloomington: A 50-Year Love Affair earned a Silver Telly Award in the biography category. A second local documentary, Fingerstyle! Indiana’s Guitar Festival, earned two Bronze Telly Awards in sound design and live events. “Peggy’s Poetry and Zarg,” a segment from WTIU’s local children’s series The Friday Zone, earned a Silver in the writing category and a Silver and Bronze in the children’s category. IU Radio and Television Services also received a Bronze in the non-broadcast category for biography.
On May 18, WFIU and WTIU were honored with a combined total of 27 awards at the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Best in Indiana Journalism Contest. The WFIU-WTIU News team took home 22 awards, including first place awards for television education coverage, television environmental reporting, best radio newscast, radio sports reporting, and radio continuing coverage. WTIU earned four awards, including two for its local series Journey Indiana and a respective first and second place in the documentary category for Horsepower: Indiana’s Equine Industry and Bob Hammel & Bloomington: A 50-Year Love Affair. The WFIU-WTIU Digital team earned one award for its online series The INbox.
The WFIU-WTIU News team won three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards May 12, including for sports reporting, excellence in social media, and continuing coverage. Murrow winners represent work of the highest quality produced by radio, television, and online news organizations around the world. Regional winners automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition. The national awards will be presented October 12 at the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala at Gotham Hall in New York City.
In addition to the 44 awards the stations have received, WTIU is also nominated for 16 Lower Great Lakes Chapter Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Nominees include WTIU series Journey Indiana and The Friday Zone; local documentaries Horsepower: Indiana’s Equine Industry, Fingerstyle! Indiana’s Guitar Festival, Bob Hammel & Bloomington: A 50-Year Love Affair, and Terre Haute: Rise & Resilience; and the online series [Indi]android. The winners will be announced June 20.