WRAL Wins RTNDA Awards

Congratulations to the staff at WRAL TV5 for their awards from the Radio and Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas!

Best Sportscast: First Place
Air date: December 22, 1999
The judges said: "In six minutes, the anchor filled the show with a live shot from Mobile, AL covering East Carolina's bowl game. He also went live from Raleigh Sports Arena to follow the Hurricanes. In addition, he touched on ACC basketball, then made the transition to problems in basketball and the trade of the day. The show is capped with the anchor presentation from the high school football championship.”

Congrats to Tom Suiter and the whole sports team!

Best Documentary: First Place
“The Cape Light: Away from the Edge”
The judges said: "A primer on good storytelling using the latest technology. This documentary follows the lighthouse move from the perspective of those involved in the work. It also shows the advantages of the 16x9 aspect ratio in documentary work.”

WRAL also won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for “Best Use of Photography” for “The Cape Light: Away from the Edge.”

Congratulations to Scott Mason, Jay Jennings, Bill Leslie, Sky5 Pilot Steve Wiley and these members of the WRAL videography staff for their amazing documentation of this truly historic event. Chief Photographer Richard Adkins, Keith Baker, Terry Cantrell, Mark Copeland, John Cox, Joe Frieda, Gil Hollingsworth, Jay Jennings, David Renner, and Ed Wilson spent a combined 73 hours shooting 110 tapes.

Best Photography: First and Second Place
1ST Place Jay Jennings for “Upon this Rock.”
The documentary that took viewers on a breathtaking tour of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican City among other places in Rome.

2nd Place Jay Jennings for “Moving Our Lighthouse.”
This was a feature in “30 Minutes” edited by Jay using a song by Raleigh singer/songwriter Bett Padgett. Additional video shot by Chief Photographer Richard Adkins, Keith Baker, Terry Cantrell, Mark Copeland, John Cox, Joe Frieda, Gil Hollingsworth, David Renner and Ed Wilson.

Best Online Site: First Place
WRAL Online
The judges said: “Easy to navigate with plenty of locally generated content. Few frivolous links and the type of immediate information that keeps the visitor at the site." Yet another in the long list of accolades for WRAL OnLine.

Congratulations to Dept. Head John Conway, Webmaster Jason Priebe, Graphics Director Bill Burch, Senior Producer Michelle Singer, John Clark, Ken McCrery, Kay Miller, Julie Moos, Kamal Wallace, and the News Photogs/Reporters who provide such great news coverage.

Special Report: First and Second Place 1st Place
“Crisis in Kosovo”
The judges said: "A classic example of localizing a complex international story. Brought home the implications of the crisis on the viewing area with a variety of voices and visuals."

Congratulations to Mark Roberts and videographer ‘Smokin’ Joe Frieda.

2nd Place “Special Olympics World Summer Games”
Congratulations to Jim Payne, Tracy Wilson, Leesa Craigie, James Ford and Sundrae Miller.

2nd Place “Best Newscast"

Best Feature Report: Second Place
“Durham Evidence Technician”

Congratulations to videographer Jim Young.

Other Awards
News The WRAL Documentary
"Upon This Rock" won a 3rd place in the National Headliners Awards this year. It was in the Documentary/Series category in this big-time contest sponsored annually by the Press Club of Atlantic City.