KTUU wins national ‘station of the year’ award from NPPA
It’s the 4th time - and first in 16 years - KTUU has won award for best station in market
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Alaska’s News Source has been recognized as “Station of the Year” for market 2, which includes all stations in markets ranked 35th and down.
The National Press Photographer’s Association awarded KTUU the “Station of the Year” award for market sizes 35 to 210, despite Alaska’s News Source being ranked #146 in the category, something that KTUU Director of Photography Eric Sowl acknowledges in the photographer’s philosophy.
“We are ... a small market but please don’t tell that to the photojournalists working here,” the philosophy states. “They have to cover the largest geographic broadcast footprint in the United States. On any given day, they can find themselves anywhere in our state’s 665,400 square miles.”
The award comes from a foundation of photojournalism culture built at the station over the past 40 years, according to Sowl.
“Using the building blocks of natural moments, meaningful sound and strong visuals, we cement those blocks together with steady sequencing, editing and blended audio, building a legacy of strong visual storytelling,” the statement reads.
KTUU has won the “small” market category three times before — 2006, 2008, and 2010. In previous years, there were three market sizes; large, medium, and small. Now, there is a “large” market for stations ranked 1-34, and all other markets from 35th-largest on back.
It’s the largest pool of stations that KTUU has competed in.
“With a limited road system and many Alaska communities lacking the traditional resources to get news, KTUU’s position as a leading news organization in the state is even more substantial,” the photographer’s philosophy reads. “We practice the tenets of the NPPA code of ethics.
“We know that we have a strong responsibility to present to the public fair and accurate stories. We hold ourselves to high standards. In these times of ‘Fake News’ we have to represent ‘Real News’ on each and every shoot.”
The philosophy carried by KTUU’s photographers puts the burden on photojournalists and reporters to produce only the highest quality news and stories to share with Alaskans, the philosophy states.
“The weight on photojournalists today is much greater than it has been in the past, but the desire for good stories is still the same.”
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