Louisville Public Media's "A Critical Moment" news documentary has won the RIAS Berlin Commission's Best Radio Story Award. The German-American exchange program celebrates the best of transatlantic broadcast journalism, honoring four winners in TV, Radio and Digital Media categories submitted from across the U.S. and Germany.
"The RIAS Award is an honor," LPM News Director Rebecca Feldhaus Adams said. "It recognizes a landmark work of journalism that responded to a particular moment in time with the nuance in reporting, editing and production to make it timelessly relevant."
In a "A Critical Moment," former LPM Arts and Culture Reporter Stephanie Wolf explores how the Holocaust is covered in German schools, while LPM Education and Learning Reporter Jess Clark looks at how racism is covered in Kentucky classrooms.
The project came to life as Republican politicians in Kentucky and many other states were trying to reign in classroom conversations on race — and that has not changed. Proposed laws on the topic continues to be debated in state legislatures.
"A Critical Moment" is among a prestigious list of honorees. CNN's Wolf Blitzer won the grand prize for his film “Never Again” about the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Benjamin Arcioli and Hans Jakob Rausch, of ARD German TV documentary, were honored for “Ramstein, the documentary.” The fourth awardee, Patrick Stegemann, won the digital prize for the six-part podcast “Hacking Anonymous” about a group that waging a digital war against Russia.
The RIAS Berlin Commission was created after the legendary Radio in American Sector (RIAS) broadcaster went off the air in 1993. It has been operating exchange programs for more than 1,950 German and American broadcast journalists since then, with the aim of promoting transatlantic understanding in journalism and keeping alive the spirit of the Cold War-era radio and TV broadcasting network.
The commission will host a gala ceremony on June 1, in Berlin to honor to all the winners.
Listen to "A Critical Moment."
