MPR News and The Current Win First Place Page One Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists

May 20, 2015

(St. Paul, Minn.)--May 19, 2015--Minnesota Public Radio received nine first place Page One awards and received the Story of the Year award from the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), at its annual awards ceremony hosted by MPR News host Tom Weber. For the second year in a row, "Betrayed by Silence", the MPR News investigative series into the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, won Story of the Year. The Current took home first place for "Best Social Media Account".

Full list of Awards: Special Awards Story of the Year First Place: MPR Newsroom, MPR News "Betrayed by Silence"

Best Social Media Account - Institutional Online First Place: Jay Gabler, Luke Taylor, Leah Garaas, Andrea Swensson, Minnesota Public Radio / The Current The Current on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram Spot/Breaking News Radio First Place: Newsroom staff, MPR News "Officer Patrick shot and killed"

Hard News Report Radio First Place: Trisha Volpe, Laura McCallum, Will Lager, Manda Lillie, MPR News "Focus on concussions transforms high school football in Minnesota"

Special Project/In-depth Series Radio First Place: Dan Gunderson, Kate Smith, MPR News "Rail Safety"

Investigative Radio First Place: Catharine Richert, Elizabeth Stawicki, Bill Catlin, MPR News "Management, technology failures, miscommunication plagued MNsure"

Best Continuing Coverage Online First Place: MPR Newsroom, MPR News "Betrayed by Silence" 3rd place: Andrea Swensson, Jay Gabler "The 400 Bar saga"

Best Use of Multimedia Online Third Place: Dan Gunderson, Will Lager, Jeffrey Thompson, Jackson Forderer, MPR News "Mystery trains: Crews, communities in the dark on chemical cargo"

Best News Video Online First Place: Molly Bloom, Curtis Gilbert, Bob Medcraft, Sam Heyn, MPR News "Choo Choo Bob explains the Southwest light rail line conundrum"

Best Newsroom Blog Online First Place: Bob Collins, MPR News NewsCut: http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/

Best News Photography First Place: Jennifer Simonson, Jeffrey Thompson, MPR News "Slain police officer laid to rest"

Best Sports Photography First Place: Jennifer Simonson, Jeffrey Thompson, Caroline Yang, MPR News "Photos: Kayaker braves raging Minnehaha Falls"