Young explorers in Santa Cruz made a surprising discovery. A local start-up is 3-D printing surfboards from recycled trays. San Benito County voters only saw one local school board race on the ballot last fall. And, a section of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf broke off just before Christmas.
What do these seemingly disparate stories have in common? Each of them is an award-winner.
This spring, former KAZU news director Jerimiah Oetting’s “These youngsters discovered the first evidence that giant Ice Age sloths roamed Santa Cruz” earned a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association and will go on to compete for a national Murrow award.
“Santa Cruz startup hopes 3D printed, recycled surfboards will take off,” by Erin Malsbury, received a first place award for sports from the Public Media Journalists Association. The announcement came during the PMJA annual conference in Kansas City last month, which two KAZU journalists attended.
Malsbury’s quick work and careful collaboration with Scott Cohn when a chunk of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf fell into the Bay landed them a second place in the news feature category.
And KAZU’s local coverage of the 2024 elections included an award winner from Elena Neale-Sacks. In the Government and Democracy category, their story about the absence of races on San Benito county ballots, because they were uncontested, received second place.
"These awards underscore the vital role KAZU plays in our community," said General Manager Dan Larkin. "Our news department continues to be recognized for delivering high-quality, independent, and unbiased journalism that our listeners expect and rely on."
KAZU is proud of its small and mighty news team, which recently expanded to add Ngozi Cole and Katie Brown as full-time reporters.
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