WHYY earns 18 Delaware Press Association awards for election, pandemic coverage

WHYY has earned 18 awards in Delaware Press Association’s 2021 Communications Contest.

The newsroom’s Delaware team — Mark Eichmann, Zoë Read, and Cris Barrish — had an impressive showing for coverage related to the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice, and the 2020 presidential election.

Read and Barrish swept first, second, and third place in the digital “social justice” category, and Read swept all three top spots for her coverage of people whose lives were cut short by COVID-19. The Delaware team also earned the top two spots for best radio reports, and first place for special TV programming.

The annual Communications Contest rewards professional communicators in and around Delaware across print, digital, and broadcast outlets. The annual contest is two-tiered: the first tier is the statewide DPA competition, and the second is a national competition run by the National Federation of Press Women. All first-place winners in the DPA contest are eligible for entry into the national competition.

“I’m so proud to see the work of this team recognized, especially given the challenges of covering stories amid a pandemic,” said Sandra Clark, vice president for news and civic dialogue. “They were there wherever our community needed us to be.”

Below are the DPA contest winners from WHYY:

Television

• 1st Place Television, Special Programming
  • Where is Wilmington High? | Mark Eichmann, Cris Barrish

Radio

• 1st Place Radio, Prepared Report
  • Delaware’s high school athletes back on the field after roller coaster ride | Cris Barrish
• 2nd Place Radio, Prepared Report
  • HBCU students restore 1940s African American art in Delaware art | Mark Eichmann

Digital

• 1st Place News Story, Online Publication
  • Del. police have shot 56 people since 2005, but law ‘immunizes’ them from prosecution | Cris Barrish
• 1st Place Specialty Articles, Obituary
  • Charlie Secrest, 82, Southern ‘tomcat’, fixer of cars & father who ‘made it clear he cared’ | Zoë Read
• 1st Place Specialty Articles, Agriculture, Agribusiness, Aquaculture
  • Hemp growers fight federal limits, weather, thieves for stake in a projected CBD boom | Zoë Read
• 1st Place Specialty Articles, Religion
  • The comfort of touch, and the clergy’s new challenge to minister without it | Zoë Read
• 1st Place Specialty Articles, Social Issues
  • Protesters demand action and Delaware politicians jump to enact policing reforms | Cris Barrish
• 2nd Place Continuing Coverage or Unfolding News
  • The election of President Biden, a view from home | Mark Eichmann, Cris Barrish
• 2nd Place Specialty Articles, Business
  • Assessing COVID-19’s toll on Black physicians’ practices | Zoë Read
• 2nd Place Specialty Articles, Education
  • Hybrid or remote-only, Delaware teachers ‘trying to find grace to work through it all’ | Cris Barrish
• 2nd Place Specialty Articles, Science or Technology
  • Delaware’s free saliva test for coronavirus is a snap — nothing gets shoved up your nose | Cris Barrish
• 2nd Place Specialty Articles, Social Issues
  • He was exonerated after serving 40 years in prison. What does Delaware owe him? | Zoë Read
• 2nd Specialty Articles, Obituary
  • Wayne Craven, 89, ‘Dean of American Sculpture’ and ‘traditional gentleman’ | Zoë Read
• 3rd Place Specialty Articles, Government or Politics
  • LGBTQ community relieved at Biden win, but worry SCOTUS could jeopardize rights | Zoë Read
• 3rd Place Specialty Articles, Obituary
  • Hugh Frick, 84, ‘kind curmudgeon,’ guiding father and Univ. of Delaware professor | Zoë Read
• 3rd Place Specialty Articles, Social Issues
  • Blood, plasma donation policies reflect fears born in an earlier epidemic: HIV in the 80s | Zoë Read
• 3rd Place Specialty Articles, History
  • Digging into Del. school property’s history unearths ties to George Washington | Cris Barrish
• Honorable Mention Specialty Articles, Government or Politics
  • Counter-snipers, checkpoints, armored limo create ‘giant bubble’ around Biden | Cris Barrish
• Honorable Mention Specialty Articles, Green/Environmental
  • Disconnected: Thousands in Delaware lack access to safer public water | Zoë Read
• Honorable Mention Specialty Articles, History
  • Juneteenth Did Not Mean Freedom for Delaware Slaves | Mark Eichmann

A full list of award recipients can be found online.