NBC 5 / Dallas-Fort Worth Investigates Team Wins Top National and Regional Honors

DALLAS and FORT WORTH, Texas, May 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society of Professional Journalists has honored NBC 5 as a national winner of  2012 Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism, and The Radio Television Digital News Association has awarded NBC 5 four regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.

The Society of Professional Journalists awarded the NBC 5 Investigates team its top national award in the Investigative Reporting, large-market stations category for the story "Critical Delays: Dallas County's Response to the West Nile Epidemic."

The NBC 5 team of Scott Friedman, Eva Parks, Peter Hull and Shane Allen researched and reported on the response of Dallas county officials in the critical days and weeks of the West Nile epidemic that gripped the DFW area during the summer of 2012.

The NBC 5 Investigates team also won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Continuing Coverage and News Series. 

In the Continuing Coverage category, the NBC 5 team's nine-month-long investigation resulted in the series "Driven to Distraction," which led to local police department policy changes designed to prevent crashes caused by police officers using mobile dashboard computers while driving. 

"You're Gonna Wait," a multi-part investigation on long waits at the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) driver license offices, won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award in the News Series category.  NBC 5 Investigates revealed that actual wait times at driver license offices are often worse than DPS reports from the data it gathers. 

Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards were also awarded to NBC 5 in the categories of Sports Reporting and Use of Sound and Video.

"The Game of Life," a story about a teenager with an illness and big dreams, who gets to meet his sports hero, won for Sports Reporting and was produced by the NBC 5 team of Noah Bullard, Peter Hull and Matt Barrie.

NBC 5's photojournalist Peter Hull individually won in the category Use of Sound/Video for a collection of work using compelling sound and video to better tell news stories to North Texas viewers.

"Our daily goal is to tell stories important to our viewers," said Susan Tully, NBC 5 vice president of News.  "Having two nationally respected organizations like The Society of Professional Journalists and The Radio Television Digital News Association recognize the quality of our work helps confirm we're on track to deliver for our viewers."  

The Society of Professional Journalists annually offers the Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism.  In the 2012, organization received nearly 1,700 entries from broadcast, print and online outlets, in addition to newsletters and research content.

Edward R. Murrow Awards are presented annually by The Radio Television Digital News Association, the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism.  Region six includes the states of Texas and Oklahoma.

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SOURCE NBC 5 / KXAS-TV