WNAV is not only celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, “Your Hometown Station” is also pleased to announce that its news and sports departments collected quite a few accolades recently.
WNAV’s Wiley Baker was named the Baltimore Touchdown Club’s Hall of Fame – Media Person of the Year on May 14 at the organization’s 22nd annual banquet. And just a few weeks later, WNAV received the following awards from the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association (CAPBA) at a ceremony in Ocean City:
• Outstanding News Operation (WNAV News team)
• Outstanding Year-Round Local Sports (Wiley Baker)
• Outstanding Digital Feature Project (Donna Cole/What is Pickleball?)
• Outstanding Digital News Project (Donna Cole/Tidal Flooding)
• Multimedia/Online Journalism (Donna Cole/Ship Selection-USS Sioux City)
• Outstanding Enterprise Reporting (Donna Cole/A Banned Pesticide Killed 18 Bald Eagles)
• Outstanding Spot News Reporting (Jane Schlegel and Brandon Simpson/Capital Gazette Shootings)
The Spot News award is bittersweet – we wished we never had to report what happened at The Capital Gazette on June 28, 2018. We will forever miss Wendi, Rebecca, John, Rob and Gerald.
Wiley Baker was also recognized as the second place finalist in the Outstanding Sports Feature category. Donna Cole was recognized as the second place finalist in the Outstanding Public Affairs Show category. Jane Schlegel was recognized as the second place finalist in the Outstanding Newscast category.
A few days after the CAPBA awards, the Washington, D.C., Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists presented its 2019 Dateline Award Excellence in Local Journalism for Investigative Journalism to WNAV’s Donna Cole for her work on the bald eagle poisoning stories. This award was received June 11 at the Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
WNAV’s General Manager Steve Hopp said, “I’m incredibly proud on our entire staff for all of their accomplishments. It’s always wonderful to have your hard work acknowledged. What a great way to commemorate the station’s 70th Anniversary!”