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Gray Media and Its Stations Honored for their Journalism and Community Service by RTDNA, National Headliner, Emmys, the NAB Leadership Foundation, and Other Organizations
ATLANTA, May 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gray Media and multiple Gray stations recently received honors from prestigious industry organizations, including the Radio Television Digital News Association, National Headliner Awards, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the NAB Leadership Foundation.
Gray is very pleased to report that the Radio Television Digital News Association has selected Sandy Breland, Gray’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, for its 2025 John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award. Named for the founder and first president of RTDNA, this award recognizes an individual’s contributions to journalism and freedom of the press. She will be honored at RTDNA25 in New Orleans.
“Sandy Breland’s career is a testament to the power and impact of local journalism. From her early days in the newsroom to her leadership of one of the largest media companies in the country, she has consistently championed integrity, public service, and community connection,” said RTDNA Chair Sheryl Worsley. “Her unwavering dedication to journalism and freedom of the press makes her a deserving recipient of the John F. Hogan Award, and we are proud to honor her at RTDNA25.”
In addition, RTNDA will award Jeff Schlesser, news director at Gray’s WWSB in Sarasota, Florida, the 2025 RTDNA Loren Tobia Leadership Award, which is given annually to a journalist who exemplifies true leadership within their company or organization. Since joining WWSB in 2020, Jeff collaborated with his team to support 54 hours per week of locally produced programming and develop a newsroom dedicated to covering the southern portion of the Tampa Bay media market.
The prestigious National Headliner Awards honored three Gray Media outlets for journalistic excellence.
WANF in Atlanta, Georgia, won first place in the broadcast or cable television stations documentary or series category for “In Plane Sight: The Fix,” an undercover investigation of Drug Enforcement Task Force Agents searching innocent passengers at airport gates, looking for cash, and keeping the money they seized. According to the judges’ comments, “This story not only examined what appeared to be an outrageous abuse of power but played a major role in fixing the problem. Through scrupulous and non-sensationalized reporting, the investigators documented abuses by airline employees and federal employees who were allowed to seize cash from innocent passengers under the guise of a practice that assumed anyone carrying a large amount of cash was under suspicion for drug offenses. This two-year investigation ended that practice.”
WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky, won third place in the same category for “23 Seconds: A Louisville Mass Shooting.” The original documentary recounts the events of the Old National Bank mass shooting through exclusive and personal interviews with officers, survivors and others connected to the tragic events.
InvestigateTV, Gray’s national investigative unit, received second place honors in the broadcast television networks, cable networks and syndicators business and consumer reporting for “Data-Driven.” The report uncovered new privacy concerns about automakers’ data collection practices and tracking of operator data beyond driving habits, such as geolocation, search history, and voice recordings.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nominated two Gray stations for the 46th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Regional News Story: Investigative category.
WANF in Atlanta, Georgia, is again recognized for “In Plane Sight.” This nomination is for the first year of the two-year investigation that revealed the DEA tactics used to seize cash from passengers with no evidence of drug trafficking and ultimately led the US Department of Justice to dismantle the whole program.
WVUE in New Orleans, Louisiana, is nominated for “Double Injustice.” Their investigative series uncovered that the current Louisiana Attorney General was wrongly withholding state funds from exonerated inmates.
The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation named WIBW in Topeka, Kansas the winner of its 2025 Celebration of Service to America Award for small market television stations in recognition of their “Hear me. See me.” campaign. Spurred by a study that ranked Kansas last in the nation for mental health care, WIBW launched the initiative in January 2024 with a series of public service announcements and a special edition of Eye on NE Kansas, dedicated to mental health awareness. Throughout the year, community partners joined in furthering the PSA series. Meanwhile, the news team was intentional about exploring mental health-related issues through in-depth pieces detailing school efforts, what workplaces are doing, and farmer/rancher suicide prevention, among other topics.
In addition, Gray Media is a Service to America finalist in the TV-Ownership Group category. Gray stations WSAZ in Huntington, West Virginia, is a finalist for TV-Medium Market, and WSFA inMontgomery, Alabama and WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida are finalists for TV-Small Market.
In addition to these honors, Gray’s stations recently received other recognitions and awards for extraordinary efforts and achievements in our local markets. A few examples include:
Gray Media stations were well represented at the Eric Sevareid Awards, presented by the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin received six Eric Sevareid awards, including recognition for the station’s coverage of the Packers season opener in Brazil. KEYC in Mankato, Minnesota received three Eric Sevareid awards, including first place honors for Breaking News and Morning Newscast. WMTV in Madison, Wisconsin; KMOT in Minot, North Dakota; KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa; WEAU in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; KBJR in Duluth, Minnesota; KFYR in Bismarck, North Dakota; KCRG in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; WOWT in Omaha, Nebraska; and KSFY/KDLT inSioux Falls, South Dakota also received honors at the Eric Sevareid awards.
WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama, recently took home Television Station of the Year and several other awards at the Alabama Broadcasters Association ABBY Awards. WALA in Mobile, WAFF in Huntsville, and WSFA in Montgomery also received awards.
The Michigan Association of Broadcasters named WILX in Lansing Station of the Year in the Market 3 category. The station also earned 16 awards. WLUC in Marquette won Station of the Year in the Market 4 category, and WNEM in Saginaw also won in several categories.
KKTV in Colorado Springs, Colorado, received several honors at the Colorado Broadcasters Association Awards of Excellence competition, including first place finishes in breaking news, best anchors/news team, and best commercial campaign for an advertiser. KKCO and KJCT in Grand Junction also received multiple awards.
The Texas Broadcast News Awards honored KXII in Sherman with five first place awards at the annual awards ceremony. KFDA in Amarillo, KBTXin Bryan, KOSA inMidland, KLTV in Tyler, and KWTX in Waco also won awards.
The Georgia Association of Broadcasters welcomed Holly Steuart, recently retired General Manager of WTVM in Columbus to its Hall of Fame.
“Gray is immensely proud of the culture of impactful journalism and community service these awards exemplify,” said Gray’s Executive Chairman Hilton Howell. “Our teams represent the best of the best. Congratulations to all the stations, journalists, and leaders on these impressive awards and recognitions.”
AboutGray Media:
Gray Media, Inc. (NYSE: GTN) is a multimedia company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is the nation’s largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital assets serving 113 television markets that collectively reach approximately 37 percent of US television households. The portfolio includes 78 markets with the top-rated television station and 99 markets with the first and/or second highest rated television station during 2024, as well as the largest Telemundo Affiliate group with 44 markets. The company also owns Gray Digital Media, a full-service digital agency offering national and local clients digital marketing strategies with the most advanced digital products and services. Gray’s additional media properties include video production companies Raycom Sports, Tupelo Media Group, and PowerNation Studios, and studio production facilities Assembly Atlanta and Third Rail Studios. For more information, please visit www.graymedia.com.
Gray Contact:
Kevin P. Latek, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal & Development Officer, 404-266-8333
