IPBS member stations were big winners at the recent Society of Professional (SPJ) Journalists awards banquet recognizing the best work of 2021 in Indiana print, broadcast, and online journalism. IPBS member stations earned nearly 40 awards, including eight among the IPB News team. Lauren Chapman, IPB News digital editor, was named Indiana Journalist of the Year for her nuanced and expansive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chapman won in the Special Honors Division for “her dogged, relevant, detailed, human coverage of Covid-19,” according to the SPJ judging panel. “It is a story that affected (and still does) almost every citizen in her area, the USA, and the world.”
IPB News was also honored with first place awards for education coverage, radio sports reporting, radio continuing coverage, radio public affairs, and best COVID-19 initiative; second place awards for medical/science and environmental reporting; and a third place award for sports reporting. IPB News is a collaboration of the state’s nine public media newsrooms and a shared statewide team, which includes journalists from several station newsrooms.