During the live broadcast of the 66th Annual Scripps Howard Award winners on Tuesday it was announced that Michigan Radio’s Believed podcast series has won this year’s Jack R. Howard Award for Radio/Podcast In-Depth Coverage. The Scripps Howard Foundation announced its award winners in 15 categories, honoring the best in American journalism from 2018. Other finalists for the Radio/Podcast award were WNYC Studios in New York for the "Aftereffect" podcast and WBEZ Chicago and The Chicago Tribune’s podcast project, "16 Shots."
Believed, which was produced by Michigan Radio and NPR, dealt with the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Beyond the criminal case, it shared the important stories of the young women, athletes, and survivors who were affected.
"The lifelong costs and consequences of childhood sexual abuse were made vividly, urgently clear in the superb Michigan Radio series Believed,” said the Scripps Howard Award judges. “Using interrogation tapes, archival audio and in-depth interviews with the victims and their families, the Michigan Radio reporters skillfully led listeners through a staggering loss of innocence."
The Scripps Howard Awards are one of the nation’s most prestigious American journalism competitions. The awards honor work from television stations, networks, radio and podcasts, visual media, online media outlets, independent producers, newspapers and print publications.
With a focus on high-impact reporting, the awards recognize journalism that spurs action, and news organizations that go the extra mile to expose previously undisclosed or misunderstood information. Other Scripps Howard Award winners this year include the BBC, Frontline-PBS, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times/ProPublica.
This is Michigan Radio’s second Scripps Howard Award. The station received a 2016 award for its ongoing coverage of the Flint water crisis.
Michigan Radio’s Believed team will receive its award at a live show hosted by Michelle Miller, co-host of “CBS This Morning: Saturday” on April 18, 2019.