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Colorado Public Radio Wins National Murrow Award

The award honors a documentary about the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, which also recently won an award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists

Denver, Aug. 20, 2024 - Colorado Public Radio is the recipient of a prestigious 2024 Edward R. Murrow Award. The national award recognizes “A Year Since Club Q,” an audio documentary that tells the individual stories of four people who were present for the November 2022 shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that killed five people.

A team of people at CPR News and KRCC contributed to the documentary: Abigail Beckman reported and produced it; Andrea Chalfin and Rachel Estabrook edited it; and Pedro Lumbraño contributed mixing and sound design.

“I'm extremely proud of the national recognition for this work. It's a true testament to Abigail's approach from start to finish that people who survived such a horrific event trusted her to present their stories,” said Chalfin, who is also the managing editor of KRCC. “She did so with patience, sensitivity, and a sense of true responsibility, and it's humbling to see it recognized with a National Murrow Award.”

It is CPR's second National Murrow Award overall and its first since "A Columbine Diary" was named best Large Market Documentary in 2000. Since 1971, the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) has been honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards. Among the most prestigious in news, the Murrow Awards recognize local and national news stories that uphold the RTDNA Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.

CPR won nine Regional Murrow awards this year, including for “A Year Since Club Q.” Entries that win Regional Murrow awards are then considered for national awards. CPR competes in the Large Market Radio division of the competition as one of the 50 biggest radio markets in the nation.

Abigail Beckman was also recently awarded the Excellence in Podcasts Award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists for “A Year Since Club Q.” The NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists Excellence in Journalism Awards were established in 1993 to foster, recognize and reward excellence in journalism on issues related to the LGBTQ+ community.

In addition to these recent awards for this documentary, last week, Hayley Sanchez, a CPR editor and host, was named a Rising Star in Public Media by Current, the news organization covering public media in the U.S for professionals in the industry. A complete list of recent awards for CPR and KRCC is available here.

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About Colorado Public Radio

Colorado Public Radio is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization delivering meaningful news, music, and cultural experiences to everyone in Colorado using the power of the human voice in all its forms. Roughly 95 percent of CPR’s funds come from the private support of listeners, businesses and foundations. For more information, visit www.cpr.org.

  • CPR News delivers in-depth, insightful and impartial news and information from around the world, across the nation and throughout Colorado, examining its relevance to our state and connecting it to our community.
  • CPR Classical takes listeners on an in-depth exploration of thoughtfully curated music – with an emphasis on Colorado’s classical community – providing context to a broad range of meaningful and compelling works from past to present.
  • Indie 102.3 takes listeners inside the world of new and independent music – exposing them to up-and-coming artists and highlighting Colorado’s local music scene.
  • Denverite is an online news source dedicated to Denver's curious and concerned.
  • KRCC is a public radio station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving Southern Colorado. KRCC is operated by Colorado Public Radio in partnership with Colorado College.