CARMEL, Ind. — The Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored WTHR with top awards Friday night. The 13News team received first place recognition in 10 categories of SPJ’s Best in Indiana contest.
13News at 5 was named Best Newscast in the Indianapolis market. The newscast showcased reporting about the murders of two young girls in Delphi and details about why investigators arrested a local man nearly five years after their deaths. Ashley Hardin-Hammons produced the newscast.
The 13News team also received first place for its breaking news coverage of the fire at the Walmart Distribution Center in March 2022.
(NOTE: The video accompanying this story is coverage of the Walmart fire from 2022.)
WTHR won both first and second place honors in the feature reporting category. Chuck Lofton and the Chuck’s Big Adventure team received first place for a story from their trip to New England last year. Dog Mountain is a place that honors the joy and memories dogs have brought to their families. Photojournalist Steve Rhodes and producer Megan Simpson worked with Lofton on Chuck’s Big Adventure.
A story Scott Swan and Rhodes produced before the Bejing Olympics earned second place. They introduced viewers to a woman known as the Wok Lady who sells woks from her small stores in San Francisco.
Rhodes shot and edited both of those stories and received both first and second place in the Feature Videography category for his work.
Judges honored the work of the 13 Investigates team in several categories. Bob Segall’s stories about patients who claim a local cardiologist subjected them to unnecessary procedures won the Investigative Reporting category. Photojournalist Ryan Thedwall and producer Susan Batt also worked on these reports.
A series of Segall’s stories holding government agencies accountable received first place for government and political reporting. Photojournalist Bill Ditton worked on these stories, along with Thedwall and Batt.
Cierra Putman and Dustin Grove received top honors for Reporting on Children’s Issues for their stories about mental health challenges facing young Hoosiers. Photojournalists Scott Allen and Ditton helped create this coverage, along with Batt.
SPJ honored WTHR’s in-depth conversations with the U.S. Senate candidates in the Election and Campaign reporting category. Emily Longnecker spoke at length with the three candidates on the ballot. Photojournalists Thedwall, Russ Govert and Adam Pyle were part of the team that put these conversations together.
A series of stories about athletes who are leaving a lasting impact received top honors in the Sports Reporting Category. A large group of people worked on these stories, including Sports Director Dave Calabro, John Doran, Laura Steele, Josh Blankenship, Clint Erbacher, Steve Rhodes, Megan Simpson and Kyle Thomas.
The judges recognized Longnecker’s report about the experience of a woman who gave birth to her child while in prison with the top award in the Social Justice Reporting category. She worked with photojournalists Erbacher and Blankenship on this story.
WTHR’s “13News Special: Delphi Murders Arrest” received second place in the Documentary or Special Category. The station also placed second in the Business or Consumer Affairs Reporting category.
WTHR received third place honors for Education Coverage and Coverage of Race and Diversity Issues.