Awards

• 2024: Received two Minnesota SPJ Page One Awards: Third Place, Podcast for Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine and Third Place, News Feature Reporting for the Minnesota Native News segment, “Anangong Miigaading- “Star Wars: A New Hope” Released in Ojibwe Language.”
• 2023: Received a Second Place Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ) Award in the “Politics/government reporting” category for the Minnesota Native News “On The Ballot” segment, produced by Emma Needham and Marie Rock.
• 2022: Received three awards from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ): First Place in the “Best Newscast” category for the Minnesota Native News segment “The Color Red for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR);” First Place in the “Special Project/In-Depth Series” category the Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice Project special series, Bearing Witness with Anthony and Georgia; and Third Place in the “Best Podcast” category for Counter Stories.
• 2021: Received two Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ) Page One Awards: Second Place in the Newscast Category for “Line 3 Construction Stops in Aitkin County” (Minnesota Native News) and Third Place in the Radio Feature Category for a Veterans’ Voices: Korea segment.
• 2020: Won Second Place in the Hard News Report (Radio) category for Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine, Media Makers Episode 5 program, “Many Native people are dissatisfied with the media portrayal of Indigenous communities across Turtle Island,” at the 2020 Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists MNSPJ Page One Awards.
• 2019: received two awards from the Minnesota chapter of Society of Professional Journalists for Minnesota Native News: “It’s Never Just Housing” by Melissa Townsend and Marie Rock (First Place, Newscast- Radio) and “Minnesota Historical Society Works with Tribes on Historic Sacred Site” by Cole Premo (Second Place, Hard News Report).

• 2024: Won two Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Page One Awards: Second Place, Best Podcast, for MinneCulture and Second Place, Best Feature Reporting for the 10,000 Fresh Voices segment, “Rudos in the Ring, Técnico.”
• 2023: Received four Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ) awards: First Place in the “Podcast” category for season six of MinneCulture (Julie Censullo, Emily Haavik, Matthew Schneeman, Tony Williams, Sheila Regan, Joe Friedrichs, and John Gebretatose), First Place in the “Enterprise/In-Depth Reporting” category for Joe Friedrichs’ MinneCulture segment “A History of Fire in the Boundary Waters,” The 10,000 Fresh Voices program took home First Place in the “Feature Reporting” category for KFAI earned four awards for its ACHF programming. the segment, History Submerged in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. It was a short documentary about a husband-wife team that searched for artifacts in Minnesota’s lakes and rivers, which was produced by Michelle Bruch. KFAI also received third place in the “Feature Reporting” category. MinneCulture producer Tony Williams earned the award for his segment entitled The Not-Springs of Mankato which exposed an early internet hoax with some local flavor.
• 2022: Received three Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ) awards: Second Place in the “Best Podcast” category for MinneCulture, Third Place in the “Radio Feature” category for 10,000 Fresh Voices’ “Dear Neighbor, This Poster is for You,” and Third Place in the “Special project/In-Depth Series” category for Hidden Black Foodways.
• 2021: Received three Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ) Page One Awards: First Place in the Special Project/In-Depth Series category for MinneCulture’s “Gig Loss Pandemic;” Second Place in the Radio Feature category for MinneCulture’s “Stay Young Go Dancing;” and Second Place in the Special Project/In-Depth Series category for MinneCulture’s “A Brief History of Women in Bars: A Minnesota Story in Three Rounds.”
• 2020: Received five Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (MNSPJ) Page One Awards. First Place in Feature (Radio) for Robert McGinley Myers’s “Courtroom Theater” (MinneCulture feature); Second Place in Feature (Radio) for Ryan Dawes’ Unfamous Rock Manager Tells All (MinneCulture feature); Third Place in Feature (Radio) for Sheila Regan’s Time Signatures Explained, Then Deranged (MinneCulture feature); Second Place in Investigative (Radio) for Britt Aamodt’s “Generation AIDS: Minnesota’s HIV/AIDS Crisis” (MinneCulture feature); and First Place in Sports News Coverage for Anna Stitt’s “Rinkside With Brownbody” (MinneCulture feature).
• 2019: Received 5 Minnesota Society of Professional Journalist Page One Awards for their 10,000 Fresh Voices project. These included: Bending Nimbus to Her Will by Anna Stitt, (Top Honors, Feature- Radio), A Violinist Grapples With Death by Ryan Dawes, (Second Place, Feature- Radio), An Unvarnished, Unholy Tour of Franklin Avenue by Melissa Olson (Third Place, Special Project/In-Depth Series), Playing the National Anthem on the Pipa? Gao Hong Brings It by Ryan Dawes (Top Honors, Sports News Coverage), and Why She Skateboards, Despite the Pain by Katie Thornton (Top Honors, Sports News Coverage).
• 2018: Received 5 Minnesota Society of Professional Journalist Page One Awards for segments produced for their MinneCulture program. These included: One Speed, No Brakes, 43 Degrees by Sophie Nikitas (Top Honors in Feature-Radio); The Queen of Dark by Erianna Jiles (Top Honors, Feature – Radio); Amellia’s: Our Own Apollo by Nancy Rosenbaum (Top Honors, Meeting/Planned Event Feature- Radio); By Punks, For Punks by Xan Holston (Meeting/Planned Event Feature- Radio), It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Super Mayor by Britt Aamodt (Top Honors, Special Project/In-Depth Series- Radio).
• 2017: Received four “SPJ’s Page One Awards” in the following categories:
  Best Radio Feature and Best Special Project/In-Depth Radio Series: “Minneapolis 1931: A Blitzkrieg of Bigotry.”
  Best Feature (Radio) category: Nancy Rosenbaum’s feature “How Black Lives Matters Got An Anthem”
  Special Project/In-Depth Series (Radio) Category: Melissa Olson, Ryan Katz, and Todd Melby took top
  honors for “Stolen Childhoods.”

• 2024: Received three Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association awards, including First Place, Student Radio Division – Lifestyle/Specialty Programming category for the Culture Clique episode, “Memoirs of a Farm Girl” and First Place, Documentary-Special category – Small Market Radio Division for The Sound’s segment on Minneapolis band Pert Near Sandstone.
• 2023: Received three Eric Sevareid Awards from the Midwest Broadcast Journalist Association (MBJA): Award of Merit in the Student Division category for Jiovani Bermudez’s “Last of the Better Days Ahead, a Charlie Parr Book Reading” Art Beat segment; First Place in the Documentary Special Category of the Student Market Radio Division for Jiovani Bermudez’s “Growing up in a Cult” Culture Clique segment; and Award of Merit in the Small Market Radio category for Bill Stoneberg’s “The Oak Center General Store” Culture Clique segment.
• 2022: earned a first-place Eric Sevareid Award in the Student Division of the Midwest Broadcast Journalist Association for its Culture Clique segment “Around the Farm Table’s Inga Witscher at the Winona Public Library.”
• 2021: Received three Eric Sevareid Awards: Award of Merit in the Student Market Documentary/Special Category for “Visible/Invisible: Life with Mental Illness” (Art Beat), Award of Merit in the Series Category for Student Market Radio for “50 Years of In Black America with John L. Hanson Jr.” (Culture Clique), and Award of Merit in the Student Market Radio Documentary/Special Category for “Nur-D: 38^th” (The Sound).
• 2020: Received two Eric Sevareid Awards: Award of Merit in the Documentary/Special category for Small Market Radio for a story on Minnesota singer/songwriter Lee Henke on The Live Feed, Award of Merit for Bill Stoneberg’s interview with Minnesota broadcast legend Garrison Keillor on Culture Clique.
• 2019: Received three Eric Sevareid Awards at the 2019 Midwest Journalism Conference: Award of Merit, Student Market for Will Huyck’s “Tom the Barber” on Culture Clique, Award of Merit, documentary storytelling for Will Huyck’s “Voices of the Past Cemetery Walk” on Culture Clique, and Small Market Radio for Bill Stoneberg’s interview with singer/songwriter and Winona resident Matt Browne on The Live Feed.
• 2018: The “Matthew Seipel-Anderson: Mr. MSA” interview and performance on The Live Feed won the Eric Sevareid Award of Merit for Small Market Radio – Documentary/Special.
• 2016: Eric Sevaried Award of Merit (Small Market Radio Documentary Division)for the “Culture Clique” segment
  “Feminism Today.”

• 2011: Jane Matteson Outstanding Jazz Educator Award, presented by the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education

• 2018: Community Outreach Director Sam Quackenbush received the UMD Chancellor’s Unit award for his work with the community and local arts and cultural events.
• 2011: Best Radio Station in the Duluth Reader’s Best of 2011
• 2010: KUMD & Lisa Johnson received the St. Louis River Alliance Environmental Alliance “Environmental
  Stewardship Award”

2024: Received the Arts Advocate award from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council for Rom Ogaard’s work on Artist Spotlight.

• 2021: Received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Collegiate Journalism Mark of Excellence Awards in podcasting for “Protest Special Episode” (North Star Stories from Real College Podcast).
• 2013: City Pages “Best Radio Station”
• 2010: City Pages “Best Radio Station”
• 2009: Mark of Excellence Award (Society of Professional Journalists)
  News Reporting, 1st place: “Cedar-Riverside shooting” (Reporter Sarah Boden)
  News Reporting, 3rd place: “DTV” (Reporter Ron Miller)
  Feature, 3rd Place: “Safe Cigarette Reactions” (Reporter Sarah Boden)
  In-Depth Reporting, 3rd place: “Pioneer of Broadcasting: KUOM” (Reporter Ron Miller)
  Sports Reporting, 1st place: “Gopher Football 2008” (Reporter Marco LaNave)
  Sports Reporting, 2nd place: “Hot Start: Gopher Basketball” (Reporter Marco LaNave)
• 2009: Eric Sevareid Award (Northwest Broadcast News Association)
  Newscast: “Live from the Minnesota State Fair” (Reporters Ron Miller and Ryan Wilson)
  Documentary/ Special: “Solar Car Adventure” (Reporter Ron Miller)
  Spot News: “Cedar Riverside Shooting” (Reporter Sarah Boden)
• 2009: CBI (College Broadcasters, Inc) Student Production Awards
  Winner: Best Student Media Website
  Finalist: Best Station Promotion

• 2020: KMOJ and AMPERS earned First Place at the MNSPJ Page One Awards in the Special Project/In-Depth Series (Radio) division for Sex Trafficking: Breaking Free, A 2-Part Radio Documentary, produced by Laurie Stern and Erin Warhol and hosted by Freddie Bell and Chantel SinGs. The project started in FY19.
• 2019: KMOJ and AMPERS received Top Honors, First Place in the Special Projects-In Depth Series category from the Society of Professional Journalists for Sex Trafficking: The New Slavery, produced by Laurie Stern and hosted by Freddie Bell and Chantel SinGs.

• 2024: Received two Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association awards: first place in the Broadcast Writing Division for North Shore Morning/Community Voices’ “Trail Time” episode and first place in the Podcast Division for Episode 90 of the Boundary Waters Podcast. WTIP also placed third in the Podcast Division at the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalism Page One Awards for Episode 90 of the Boundary Waters Podcast.
• 2023: Received first place for “Best Series” from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association (MBJA) for It Happens Here: The Roots of Racial Inequity on the North Shore, produced and written by Staci Drouillard and co-hosted by Leah Lemm. The ongoing series explored the history of racial inequality in Northeastern Minnesota. The series also received a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for “Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” The North Shore Morning Community Voices feature Notes from Reservation River: The Best Dog in the World, written by Jess Koski and produced by Staci Drouillard, received an MBJA first-place award in the “Writing for Broadcast” category. Koski shared about the life and times of Hansi, his beloved golden-doodle, who he maintains was “the best dog in the world.”
• 2020: Received a 2020 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Podcast in the Small Market Radio category for their Boundary Waters Podcast.