Regional Murrow Awards Spotlight Strength of Local Public Radio

Local public media newsrooms claimed a total of 283 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, given by the Radio Television Digital News Association recently to honor outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism.

Locally managed and operated public radio stations won 93% of all the 2025 Regional Murrows in the U.S. small market radio categories, winning every single award in eight of the 13 U.S. regions. Their dominance demonstrated the critical role that local public radio stations play in delivering high-quality news in rural areas of the country, where many newsrooms have diminished in size or have shut down entirely

“Public media stations are committed to serving their communities by delivering news coverage that meets the highest editorial standards, often despite limited resources,” said Kathy Merritt, CPB chief operating officer and executive vice president. “These awards reflect the outstanding work of these stations in showcasing a breadth of local and regional voices and issues.”

CPB-supported public radio stations and collaborations triumphed in the radio categories, winning 271, or 84% of all awards given in the U.S. radio categories.

Fourteen stations won overall excellence awards: Alaska Public Media; Colorado Public Radio News; KUNC News, Greeley, CO; KBIA, Columbia, MO; Marfa (TX) Public Radio; WGLT, Bloomington, IL: WUNC North Carolina Public Radio; Blue Ridge Public Radio (specifically for its Hurricane Helene coverage), Asheville, N.C.;  WWNO/WRKF New Orleans/Baton Rouge; WBHM, Birmingham, AL; WBUR, Boston; Connecticut Public; North Country Public Radio, Canton, NY; and WUSF, Tampa, FL.  

The awards highlight the wide range of local journalism that public media stations produce, including:

• If All Else Fails, an investigative podcast on extremist groups and militia movements in upstate New York, from North Country Public Radio
• Hell or High Water: BPRs Hurricane Helene coverage, Blue Ridge Public Radio
• Gumbo Inflation, making gumbo to track how inflation has affected all the ingredients, Gulf States Newsroom, New Orleans
• Us & Them: Another small town paper down, West Virginia Public Broadcasting
• News coverage of multiple wildfires, KUNC News, Greeley-Fort Collins, CO.
• What happens when a rural hospital shuts its doors? Look to Pickens County, WBHM, Birmingham, AL

In addition, the 36 Regional Murrow Awards won by collaborations involving public media stations gave evidence of the effectiveness of public media journalism collaborations. The CPB-supported Gulf States Newsroom and the collaboration between WWNO (New Orleans) and WRKF (Baton Rouge), in fact, won all 10 awards given in the Region 9 Large Market Radio category.

Complete listings of the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award winners, with links to the award-winning works, are available at https://www.rtdna.org/2025-regional-edward-r-murrow-award-winners. Regional winners compete for the National Edward R. Murrow Awards, announced in August and presented at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala on October 13 at Gotham Hall in New York City. 

To subscribe to CPB spotlights, press releases and grant announcements, go to cpb.org/subscribe