OPB journalists and video producers were recently honored with the Northwest Excellence in Journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and The Telly Awards for their original local reporting and digital video work.
With a newsroom and content staff that expands across the region from southern Washington to southern Oregon, OPB’s team of reporters and producers deliver fact-based, in-depth news and stories on politics, the environment, science, arts, history and cultures; business, education and more – offering digital, radio and TV content.
2021 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest
The SPJ has recognized several OPB journalists for its Northwest Excellence in Journalism 2021 awards across a broad range of categories in the “Large Newsroom” division.
The awards recognize the best in professional journalism in categories covering print/online, audio, television, and more. The competition is one of the largest of its kind in the nation, and honors journalists across SPJ Region 10, which covers Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
Work from OPB’s winners includes feature reporting, social equity reporting, arts and culture reporting and investigative reporting – in audio, video, photography and writing.
OPB’s SPJ awards include:
Audio: Feature, Soft News
First Place: “Wall-to-wall soul: A Portland neighborhood’s bittersweet Black music history explored” (Jerad Walker)
Second Place: “Symbols of white supremacy confront Redmond teen” (Emily Cureton Cook)
Audio: Social Equity Reporting
Second Place: “Portland’s Cully neighborhood finds allies in fight for clean air” (Monica Samayoa)
Video: Feature, Soft News
First Place: “Najiah Knight” (Jule Gilfillan, Todd Sonflieth)
Photo & Design: Photo Essay
Second Place (tie): “Inside OHSU’s fight to save the region’s sickest COVID-19 patients” (Kristyna Wentz-Graff)
Writing: Arts & Culture Reporting
First Place: “Wall-to-wall soul: A Portland neighborhood’s bittersweet Black music history explored” (Jerad Walker)
Second Place (tie): “A celebration of Oregon’s diversity debuts at Portland International Airport” (Steven Tonthat)
Writing: Breaking News
First Place: “Oregon’s only GOP congressman challenges Electoral College count” (Emily Cureton Cook)
Writing: Government & Politics Reporting
Second Place: “‘A culture of fear’: Portland’s not so civil Civic Life Office” (Rebecca Ellis)
2022 Telly Awards
OPB’s digital food series “Superabundant” was selected for a silver Telly Award. The awards represent the world’s largest honor for video and television content across all screens.
“Superabundant” is an engaging, exploratory video series dedicated to the stories behind the foods we love. Each episode features a local ingredient and seeks to understand the histories of regional food systems. The series blends natural history, flavor science and profiles of the people who grow, pick, process and protect these foods.
Telly Award winners are selected for recognition based on excellence in branded content, commercials and marketing; immersive and mixed reality, non-broadcast, series/ shows/segments and social video.
Along with the series itself, OPB producers and editors working on “Superabundant” were recognized for their work in cinematography, motion graphics and design:
Silver Winner: Online Series — Food & Beverage (“Superabundant: Season 1″)
Gold Winner: Craft / Online — Cinematography (Stephani Gordon, senior camera editor/operator)
Gold Winner: Craft / Online — Motion Graphics / Design (MacGregor Campbell, senior visual producer)
Gold Winner: Craft / Online — Voiceover (Crystal Ligori, producer/news anchor)
In its 43rd year, The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 to honor commercials made for cable and local TV, and has continually refreshed its categories to honor the evolving, broad range of work being made — including branded content, social video and animation.
This year’s Telly Awards received over 11,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents. Entrants are judged by The Telly Awards Judging Council—an industry body of over 200 leading experts including advertising agencies, production companies, and major television networks, reflective of the multiscreen industry and includes executives.