Wyoming Public Radio reporters Molly Messick and Bob Beck both won national feature reporting awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc.
The competition honors outstanding public radio news reporting across the country. Messick won first place in the best news feature category for her story about the controversy surrounding a student group in Wheatland that wanted to place anti-hate banners in their school.
Messick traveled to Wheatland to report on the controversy. The judges praised her ability to balance a difficult story and to go beyond public meetings to get local reaction from citizens.
Beck won second place in the best feature category for his story on a University of Wyoming effort to use goats to develop spider silk.
"By sweeping what is regarded as the contest's most difficult category, it is a tribute to our entire news team." Beck says. "We have been understaffed for several months in the past year and for us to still win national awards is incredible."
WPR has won 12 PRNDI awards the last five years.
"We've really had a nice run of excellence in the last few years," Beck adds. "I don't think people realize that for the most part, only four of us are involved in this effort. Yet, I would put our news team up against anyone."
Public Radio News Directors Inc. is the only national organization devoted specifically to Public Radio News. The awards were announced during the recent annual conference in Washington D.C.
