IPB, WFYI win 2021 Indiana Journalist of the Year and more SPJ awards

Journalists at Indiana Public Broadcasting, IPB News, and WFYI earned 21 awards from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for their work in 2021. Award-winners, named Friday night, were recognized for a wide range of reporting, including coverage of the pandemic, special education, children’s mental health and labor issues.

Lauren Chapman, IPB News digital editor, was awarded the Indiana Journalist of the Year for her nuanced and expansive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. IPB News is a collaboration of the state’s nine public media newsrooms and a shared statewide team.

The judges said Chapman won in a very close competition for “her dogged, relevant, detailed, human coverage of Covid. It's the story that affected (and still does) almost everyone in her area, the USA and the world."

The judges' comments continued: 

“From guidelines (and their changes), to tragic facts about infections and deaths, charts and maps she provided the info people needed -- and she worked to dispel misinformation. Further, she built a digital tracker to report racial and gender groups in coverage -- and she made it available to other reporters in the state. Her work was crisp, concise, easy to grasp.”

Reporters, editors and producers for IPB News, WFYI and its regional public health reporting collaborative Side Effects Public Media were recognized by out-of-state judges, selected by SPJ.

Categories in the "Best in Indiana Journalism" contest highlight outstanding coverage across multiple platforms: radio, digital, television, and social media. The IPB News and WFYI winners are:

First place:

Lee V. Gaines and Dylan Peers McCoy: Education Reporting for a series on “Indiana violated federal law by issuing emergency special education licenses”

Dylan Peers McCoy: Radio In-Depth Reporting for a series on “How will Indiana schools spend $3 billion in COVID relief?”

Lauren Bavis, Jake Harper: Best Podcast for “Sick Podcast Season Two”

Carter Barrett: Coverage of Children’s Issues for a series on children's mental health, co-reported with Bridge Michigan’s Robin Erb.

Farah Yousry: Print Coverage of Children’s Issues for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper in partnership with WFYI.

Justin Hicks: Radio Public Affairs for “Hoosier workers series.”

Justin Hicks: Radio Continuing Coverage for “Struggles surrounding unemployment benefits in Indiana.”

Sam Horton: Radio Sports Reporting for “Majority-women team to make history at this year’s Indianapolis 500, part of broader effort.”

Jeanie Lindsay and Alan Mbathi: Television Education Reporting for “As COVID-19 spurs workers' calls for higher pay, Kokomo School staff continue union push.”

Side Effects Staff: Best Use of Social Media for "Because of COVID" Facebook live events

Side Effects Staff: Best Newsletter for “Sick Newsletter”

Second place:

Farah Yousry: Medical or Science Reporting for stories about ivermectin, MIS-C, COVID-19 and vaccine access.

Jill Sheridan: Radio In-Depth Reporting for “Here's what the city, nonprofits and individuals are doing to end homelessness in Indianapolis”

Lauren Chapman, Alan Mbathi: Television Medical or Science Reporting for stories about “Faith, medicine and COVID-19: Why do religious vaccine exemptions exist?”

Rebecca Thiele and Alan Mbathi: Television Environmental Reporting for "Cook plant emits cancer-causing chemical but state, federal regulators didn't notify residents."

Sam Horton: Television Sports Reporting about “Majority-women team to make history at this year’s Indianapolis 500, part of broader effort.”

WFYI Staff: Best Journalism Website for WFYI.org

WFYI, Side Effects, IPB News: Best Covid-19 Initiative for "Reflections: COVID-19."

Third Place:

Jill Sheridan: Non-Deadline Story or Series for “Here's what the city, nonprofits and individuals are doing to end homelessness in Indianapolis”

Elizabeth Gabriel, Lee V. Gaines and Dylan Peers McCoy: Radio Continuing Coverage for a series of articles, “Pandemic jolts Indiana students and schools.”

A full list of the 2021 winners of the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is here.