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June 29, 2016

Contact: Gayle Ewer, Marketing Manager

(801) 587-9331 / [email protected]

KUER Wins Big with Information and Entertainment

KUER’s News and VideoWest teams were both honored for exceptional storytelling at separate awards events last week. KUER’s News team took home twelve awards at the 2016 Utah Society of Professional Journalists contest. VideoWest was awarded the 2016 Utah Short Film of the Year in the Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival with its short documentary, Ties the Room Together.

“It’s exciting to see so much of the work we’ve done over the past year honored by our professional colleagues,” says Terry Gildea, KUER News Director.

At the 2016 Utah SPJ contest, the KUER News team claimed awards for multimedia journalism, documentary and best use of sound in addition to sweeping the category for Best Radio Reporter. Here is a complete list of KUER winners:

Best Radio Reporter: First Place: Judy Fahys; Second Place: Andrea Smardon; Third Place: Whittney Evans; Honorable Mention: Brian Grimmett

Best General Feature: Second Place: Judy Fahys, Oil Sands Mine Proceeds Despite Environmental Concerns; Third Place: Terry Gildea, In Salt Lake City, A Boy Scout Troop That Welcomes Gay Parents      

Best Radio Documentary: Second Place: Judy Fahys and Terry Gildea, Utah's Uncertain Water Future

Best Use of Sound: Second Place: Brian Grimmett, Invasive Quagga Mussel Could Cost State Millions     

Best Multimedia Journalist: First Place: Brian Grimmett, The View From The Gallery

Best Business/Consumer Story: First Place: Andrea Smardon, Local Farm Not Selling Turkeys After Utah Regulators Crack Down       

Best Education Story: First Place: Whittney Evans, Native American Education: Can Utah Close the Gap?

Best Personality Profile: First Place: Whittney Evans, Utah Constituents Say Rep. Chaffetz Is Qualified To Be House Speaker

“I am surprised and honored that all four of our full-time reporters were recognized in the Best Radio Reporter of the Year category. It is further affirmation that our work is reaching people,” says Gildea.

With its second Utah Short Film of the Year award, VideoWest’s Ties the Room Together features Salt Lake City Public Library librarian Josh Hanagarne and his experiences with Tourette Syndrome. “In exceptionally finessed and understated terms, the film captures concisely an impressively comprehensive portrait of Hanagarne as well as the broader humanistic mission of the library,” says Les Roka in The Utah Review. In 2014, VideoWest won the Utah Short Film of the Year award with their short documentary, Transmormon.

The Utah Short Film of the Year award is presented by Fear No Film at the Utah Arts Festival, with more than 60 short films from filmmakers around the world screened for free at the City Library’s Auditorium. For the 2016 Festival, Fear No Film highlighted films exploring “transitions” to demonstrate that “change is the only constant.” VideoWest’s Ties the Room Together competed against six other locally produced films.

90.1 KUER, a charter member of NPR, broadcasts from the Eccles Broadcast Center at The University of Utah. KUER provides a commercial-free mix of programming to more than 165,000 weekly listeners across eighty percent of the state. KUER and its HD channels can be streamed online at www.kuer.org and with KUER's mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and Android