The Radio-Television Digital News Association today named Alabama Public Radio the winner of its national “Kaleidoscope Award” for diversity coverage. APR news spotlighted the diversity of its statewide audience in 2015 with on-going coverage of issues including, the same sex marriage debate in Alabama, the 50th anniversary of the "bloody Sunday" attack on voting rights marchers in Selma, as well as Tuscaloosa's welcome home parade for WBC World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Deontay Wilder. Our entry for the RTDNA National Kaleidoscope Award also includes a feature on the "Bal Masque," a Mardi Gras celebration where Tuscaloosa's gay community interacts with its conservative Christian neighbors in Alabama.
“In view of the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando,” says news director Pat Duggins, “it’s especially humbling that APR’s on-going coverage of the same sex marriage issue in Alabama in 2015 is being so generously recognized.”
APR's Kaleidoscope Award entry included material from the newsroom's documentary "More Bridges to Cross," about the 50th anniversary of "bloody Sunday." Another segment from that program will be honored by the Alabama Associated Press this Saturday. That story was produced by University of Alabama APR student intern Sherrill Sarah. She interviewed figures related to the event on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, including the Reverend Frederick Douglas Reese, who invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the marches in Selma.
“I took Sarah aside and gave her a crash course on gathering interviews and background sound,” says Duggins. “She came back with two hours of really good tape which led to her feature. We’re delighted Sarah will be recognized in her own right by the AP."
Public Radio stations WNYC in New York, and KQED in San Francisco are also being honored with Kaleidoscope Awards. ESPN Films, the Center for Public Integrity, and television stations KARE in Minneapolis and WRIC in Richmond were also named as winners. The trophies will be awarded during RTDNA’s Excellence in Journalism conference in New Orleans.
"We hope the work done by our Kaleidoscope Award winners this year inspires journalists across the country," said Mike Cavender, RTDNA Executive Director. "All are outstanding examples of how newsrooms can provide breadth and depth to their coverage of diverse communities and issues." -