UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — WPSU is being recognized with several prestigious awards including an Edward R. Murrow Regional Award from the Radio and Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), awards from Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA), Press Club of Western Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters (PAB).

“I feel incredibly proud,” are the words Isabel Reinert, executive director and general manager for WPSU, used to describe the team of journalists who together brought home seven awards for WPSU in the past three months. “We have an outstanding news team that is devoted to excellence in journalism every day. With a range of experience from seasoned veterans to student interns, they report on the stories that affect communities in all the 24 counties we serve.”

In her first year as a reporter for WPSU, Sydney Roach covered Central and northern Pennsylvania school districts and companies struggle to find bus drivers and it received regional accolades for WPSU with the Edward R. Murrow Award from the RTDNA for Region 11 Radio Small Market, Excellence in Writing. It is being recognized with a national award in the Education Feature category from the PMJA and was awarded in the Outstanding Feature Story/Report category from the PAB.

Roach said she developed the idea for her story from several unique perspectives, one being a former television news producer. Another was the opportunity to step into the story herself when a bus company let her try out her own skills driving a bus.

“They say anyone can try it out and some bus company managers say a barrier for many people becoming a school bus driver is that the idea of driving such a big vehicle is daunting,” she said.

But Roach credited her biggest inspiration to her mom, who was a school bus driver and showed her the daily struggles of being one.

“I'd ride on the bus with my mom after school to get homework done, and I would see kids standing up, trying to throw things at her,” Roach said. “Or when I was in marching band, everyone would get a kick out of my mom being the bus driver. But I would often see them with their phones on and flashes going off, and it would reflect up on her. I'd think, ‘These are unsafe driving conditions and that's my mom up there.’ No one would care.”

Roach said there are requirements drivers face beyond just holding a commercial driver’s license. For example, there can be restrictions in crossing state lines when transporting students to extracurriculars like sporting events.

“We could have done a simple story reporting the need for bus drivers, potentially resulting in consolidated routes, and that would have been the end of it. But having this knowledge of why this is happening and why potential solutions aren’t going to work led me to want to do more,” Roach said. “I think the story also opened the eyes of people who aren't in that world, people who aren't bus drivers and don't have family that are bus drivers. I heard from a few people that were like, wow, that was surprising.”

WPSU Reporter Anne Danahy’s work was also recognized with an award from PMJA in the Special Feature Category: Economic Impacts on Local Communities. Her story PA child care providers sound alarm, say more support is needed as federal COVID funding ends received first place for a Division A newsroom.

The Press Club of Western Pennsylvania annually honors professional and student excellence for expert storytelling and accountability in their work with a Golden Quill Award. James Engel’s reporting was recognized with the professional award for a story he filed while he was a news intern at WPSU.

The Brewery stays — State College Borough Council votes to repeal previous eminent domain resolution received first place in the Spot/Breaking News category. Engel’s story covered the State College Borough Council’s planned use of eminent domain to tear down several business buildings to construct a parking garage.

“The Brewery story wasn't just a story about a conflict between a bar and local government. There were a lot of local trends at play that ultimately went into the events I reported on as most of the folks I spoke to didn't see the proceedings in isolation. Instead, they viewed the episode in relation to many of the other changes in State College as the town continues to grow and some of the aspects locals cherish disappear,” Engel said. “When I covered the packed borough council meeting, it almost seemed like locals attempting to carve out a space for themselves in the future State College.”

Engel said this is what gave him a unique perspective in telling it.

“It's often difficult for journalists to report on trends while they're occurring. Even if the sentiment ‘State College is rapidly changing, and locals feel squeezed’ is genuinely felt by many in the area, it's hard to make that into a tangible story,” Engel said. “The Brewery story, however, placed many local trends and conversations into the world of hard news. I'm proud that I was able to bring out some of the broader, harder-to-define sentiments of the community into a practical news story.”

WPSU was recognized in April with several awards from the PAB. One of those stories was for a series about the local effects of inflation done in collaboration with a team of student reporters from the News Lab at Penn State. You can read the story about their award here.

WPSU-TV, a Pennsylvania Public Service (PBS) member station, serves 24 counties in central Pennsylvania and reaches 515,000 households, and WPSU-FM is accessible to more than 450,000 listeners in 13 counties. The public media station also includes WPSU Digital Studios, which offers original web series that explore science, arts, and culture.

WPSU is a service of Penn State Outreach.