Putting the feature among the year’s top five digital stories, the Peabody-Facebook Futures of Media Award is a prestigious honor for the radio station, which is a service of UMSL. (Graphic courtesy St. Louis Public Radio)
Audio segments drawn from police radio and close-up images of Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Mo., form the start of an in-depth digital story that just earned St. Louis Public Radio a prestigious Peabody Award.
St. Louis Public Radio’s general manager, Tim Eby, credits the station’s talented team and its members for their support of journalism that can “take risks in our coverage on air and online, explore innovative ways to share stories and amplify the voices of those not covered by traditional media.” (Photo by August Jennewein)
Titled “One Year in Ferguson,” the wide-ranging, interactive piece weaves together dozens of photographs and voices collected in the days, nights and months that followed the shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014. It’s now a recipient of a newly created Peabody honoring the past year’s top stories in digital spaces.
The radio station, which is a service of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, announced the honor May 5. General Manager Tim Eby said that the Peabody Awards “joined forces with Facebook to create this new honor to recognize digital media producers who use the affordances of digital spaces to tell innovative and creative stories.”
“This recognition is incredibly rewarding for our entire team at St. Louis Public Radio as it acknowledges the extraordinary body of work that has been produced since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in August 2014,” Eby said. “It’s also worth noting that this amazing work continues with projects like our ‘We Live Here’ podcast and ongoing coverage on air and online.”
Exploring the timeline of the events, unrest and activism in the wake of Brown’s death through archived audio and photos, the feature retraces the year through many different perspectives. Along with visuals, it’s filled with chants repeated during demonstrations, conversations with Ferguson residents and children, press conferences, community forums, police officers’ commands to disperse, songs and more.
Composed of five parts – “Confusion,” “Grief,” “Waiting,” “The Decision” and “Organizing for Change” – the story was judged by the Peabody Student Honor Board, a group of 16 undergraduate honor students at the University of Georgia. They work in conjunction with the Peabody Awards, which is celebrating 75 years as the world’s oldest and most prestigious awards program for excellence in electronic communication.
To check out the award-winning piece, click here.
