INSIDE KUAR
Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI) honored KUAR's news coverage recently with two national awards.
The KUAR news team won a first place award in the Breaking News category for its coverage of the shooting of Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney (click to listen), and reporter Malcolm Glover won a second place award in the Use of Sound category for his report on the art of political jingles (click to listen). It was the first time KUAR entered the PRNDI contest.
"I'm excited about the recognition for our news team. The first place award for the coverage of the Bill Gwatney shooting is particularly rewarding because our small news team really pulled together to make our coverage top notch. Even our station manager, Ben Fry, became a part of the news team that day so we could get the story covered," says KUAR News Director Ron Breeding.
"The research that I did for my story on political jingles was truly a labor of love, and I am glad that the PRNDI judges were impressed with my work," says KUAR Reporter Malcolm Glover.
Fellowships
Two of KUAR's newsroom staff have been selected for some very competitive training opportunities offered by National Public Radio.
Kelly MacNeil has been accepted into a new business training program. MacNeil was one of just 22 local station reporters out of about 100 who applied nationwide. The aim of the program is to offer network-quality support and beef up coverage of the economic crisis on a local level. In October, Kelly will attend a one-week training session in Los Angeles and for several months after that she'll be producing business and economics stories, which will be critiqued by an NPR editor.
"I am really hoping to use this opportunity to learn how to make clearer, more impactful stories for our local audience. I think that economic issues are probably more impactful on ordinary people's lives than just about anything else in the news. I want to tell the stories of Arkansans in this time of change. I also want to help explain these economic ideas and their ramifications to our listeners. I'm really pleased to be chosen for this training, and I think it will help take our coverage to the next level," says MacNeil.
Meanwhile, Malcolm Glover was selected to attend National Public Radio's Impact of War Project training in Culver City, CA, on July 17 and 18. Malcolm is one of twelve reporters who were chosen nationwide to participate in the program. The two-day training with NPR editorial and production veterans will give reporters new ideas on covering the local impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for both a web and radio audience.
"My father was in the Air Force during the first Gulf War, so I know all too well that wars have a lasting impact on those who fight them and on the families and communities they leave behind," says Glover. "I firmly believe that my participation in the Impact of War project training will give me the additional skills necessary for bringing to life the stories of Arkansas's military men and women."
The Impact of War Project takes a closer look at the life experiences and sacrifices of U.S. troops, their families and communities through audio pieces on NPR member stations. The three-year grant-funded reporting project also examines how American communities, attitudes, public policy, military strategy, medicine and technology are altered by war.
Find out more about NPR's Impact of War Project at the following link:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101336726
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