Siouxland Public Media received significant honors from the Midwest Broadcast Journalism Association (MBJA) during a ceremony at the Graduate Hotel in Minneapolis on April 1, 2023. Siouxland Public Media won a dozen Eric Sevareid Awards, named for the North Dakota-born journalist who attended the University of Minnesota and worked as a correspondence for CBS Radio and Television.
Siouxland Public Media won six first-place awards in the medium market category for reporting and special projects highlighting community diversity and the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Since 2020, the station has won a total of 37 Sevareid Awards.
Former Intern Carolyn Lien picked up three student awards for a report on the March for Our Lives movement in Sioux City. Lien is a 2022 graduate of East High School and attends the University of Oklahoma, where she covers the school’s gymnastics team.
Siouxland Public Media is a small NPR affiliate station run independently from a state network and operates with a two-person news department that includes News Director Mary Hartnett and Reporter/Special Projects Producer Sheila Brummer. They bring almost 60 years of combined experience to create insightful, clever, and compelling storytelling. The station’s weekly Public Affairs program, “The Exchange,” explores current topics and celebrates local arts and culture.
The MBJA covers a six-state region: Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Organization members elected Brummer to a two-year term on the organization’s board to represent the state of Iowa.
FIRST PLACE
AUDIO: “CULTURE COUNTS: North High School Marching Band Showcases Student Diversity”
BROADCAST WRITING “Culture Counts - Cold Case - Toolbox Teaching” (Sheila Brummer compilation)
DOCUMENTARY/SPECIAL: “THE EXCHANGE: Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness”
GENERAL REPORTING:
“Toolbox Program Builds Strong Foundation and Breaks Gender Barriers”
HARD FEATURE:
“MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: Sioux City Students Advocate for Safer Schools”
SERIES: “MMIW Awareness”
AWARD OF MERIT
GENERAL REPORTING:
“MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: Sioux City Students Advocate for Safer Schools”
NEWSCAST: “Sioux City Art & Culture”
SOFT FEATURE: “CULTURE COUNTS: North High School Marching Band Showcases Student Diversity”
SPORTS REPORTING: “The Sioux City Ghosts” (Small Wonders series)
TALK/PUBLIC AFFAIRS:
“MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: Sioux City Students Advocate for Safer Schools”
“Adult Literacy Program Provides Help and Hope”
