2024 Golden Press Card: Radio - East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists

Here are the 2024 Golden Press Card winners in the Radio category. The entries were judged by the Oklahoma SPJ Pro Chapter.

FEATURE REPORTING (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: A Smoky Mountain Christmas
Entry Credit: Pierce Gentry
Links: See entry
Judge Comments: I loved this story. What a unique subject to write about and you did a great job humanizing this business story/profile story.

Second Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: Plein Air’ painters persist through the rain in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Entry Credit: Pierce Gentry
Links: See entry
Judge Comments: Lots of great reporting and coverage. Your story makes me want to travel to the mountains to watch painters.

DEADLINE/BREAKING NEWS REPORTING (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: Dynamite found at CMC Recycling causes 30 hour evacuation
Entry Credit: Pierce Gentry, Jon Knowles
Links: See entry
Judge Comments: In a classically utilitarian fashion, Gentry delivers the who, what, when, where and how elements necessary in all breaking stories straight away. But he doesn’t stop there. Gentry proceeds to raise the stakes of the dynamite problem faced by the local community and what’s being done to mitigate the danger as it gets worse. The cherry on top: The known street closures in the affected area. That’s gold for local commuting listeners. The digital webpost does exactly what it should: Add context and essential information that didn’t fit in the broadcast.

GENERAL REPORTING (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: Celebrating 100 years of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club
Entry Credit: Pierce Gentry
Links: See entry
Judge Comments: This feel-good story is a textbook example of how the right ambient sounds can truly immerse listeners in a story. From the constant bellow of the wind in the background, to the trickle of a lazy stream and the crunchy footsteps of the hikers trekking on the earth’s bare crust, Gentry paints a picture that’s familiar in the minds of Americans who love the outdoors. What’s interesting – and essential – is that every sound Gentry includes in the piece would have sounded pretty much the same 100 years ago. Talk about capturing history! The sense of place brings the stories told by the hikers to a level of palpable importance.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: As Knoxville College applies for accreditation, viability of finances and campus are uncertain
Entry Credit: Jacqui Sieber
Links: See entry, See entry, See entry
Judge Comments: In this series of stories, Sieber depicts a classic struggle between local communities and outside interests competing for something they both hold dear – albeit for their own reasons. And like the best investigative pieces out there, she keeps pace with the complications in the lives of real people caught up in the mix. The use of sound in the first piece, paired with the visual descriptions Sieber narrates, creates the intended picture. The dash of irony in reading the school motto was classy and appropriate for the story’s context. Lastly, but certainly not least, Sieber does a wonderful job using available records to suss out the role of money in the story. She lays bare the just how deeply indebted the college is while it continues to recruit students.

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS REPORTING (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: Knoxville Voters Faced with ‘At-large’ Decision
Entry Credit: Pierce Gentry
Links: See entry, See entry
Judge Comments: While the piece outlines the basic mechanics of the charter amendment and its outcome, the explanation of the policy change could benefit from clearer, more concise framing. Also, the story includes solid voices from both sides, but the No on 2 side—the winning side—feels a bit underdeveloped.

HURRICANE HELENE BREAKING COVERAGE (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: Record breaking floodwaters impact East Tennessee in wake of Hurricane Helene
Entry Credit: Pierce Gentry, Jacqui Sieber, Jon Knowles
Links: See entry, See entry
Judge Comments: If I were a local resident of Cocke County, or East Tennessee, this news spot and 10-minute breakdown of the response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction is precisely what I’d want to catch playing on the radio as I tried to figure out what was happening. The reporting is sufficient enough in scope and scale to warn folks in Tennessee and nearby North Carolina about what they can expect during commutes and other forms of travel. Flooding everywhere. Don’t travel. By the end of the report, that’s the main message and arguably one of the most vital. Well done!

HURRICANE HELENE IN-DEPTH COVERAGE (Radio)

First Place
Contestant Name: WUOT
Entry Title: Continuing Coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene
Entry Credit: WUOT News Team (Jon Knowles, Pierce Gentry, Jacqui Sieber, Riley Thompson, Justin Hicks and Ryan Van Velzer)
Links: See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry, See entry
Judge Comments: Consider me swept away. The breadth and depth of coverage by the small team at WUOT is profound. From the immediate aftermath, to the harrowing relief efforts and the inevitable politics of it all, the team traverses hundreds of miles across their coverage area to tell a complete and tragic story of Mother Nature’s wrath.