PMJA Announces 2025 Award Winners

The Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) is pleased to announce its annual award winners for 2025. The awards, announced in conjunction with the organization’s annual conference being held in Kansas City, MO are for work completed during 2024. In all, the organization is presenting 266 first and second place awards to 113 organizations. Awards are presented in five divisions representing public media organizations with as few as one to more than 30 newsroom employees.

"We are always excited to be able to honor the great journalism at local public radio stations across the country," said Christine Paige Diers, PMJA Executive Director. "This year, more than 1450 entries competed for these honors."

Entries were judged by over 70 public media professionals.

The full list of winners is available here.

In addition to the annual awards, PMJA presented this year’s Leo C. Lee Award to Neenah Ellis. The Leo C. Lee Award recognizes lasting commitment to public radio journalism and is awarded each year to an organization or individual that embodies that commitment. PMJA also recognized this year’s Editor of the Year, Laura Lee, news director at Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, NC. New this year is the PMJA New Voices Award, which recognizes an early career journalist making an impact through their work. The inaugural New Voices Award goes to Gerard Albert III, a reporter and Report For America fellow also working at Blue Ridge Public Radio.

About PMJA: The Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) is a professional association for public media journalists in the United States. Membership includes over 130 local public radio newsrooms across the country. PMJA’s programs provide professional development, career support and networking opportunities to the over 1,800 journalists working at its member stations.