A student reporter from WKMS-FM, Murray State University’s NPR station, has won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.
Mason Galemore, who graduated from Murray State University’s Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business in May of this year with a journalism degree, won the Outstanding Audio Hard News award in the student division for a story he wrote while working at WKMS: “The average age of farmers is rising. Kentucky’s young farmers say they have no control over it.”
His in-depth audio piece focuses on the changes in Kentucky’s agricultural community in recent years as fewer young Kentuckians choose to farm as a career. He examines the circumstances that have led to the changes in the field and what the state’s young farmers think about the future of the industry.
WKMS has a long tradition of producing outstanding student journalists who go on to work in media outlets across the country. News Director Derek Operle says, “Mason has a bright future in the field and a heart and mind that will help him develop into an even more impressive journalist over time. We are so proud to be part of his journalistic genesis in what is sure to be a great career.”
The Murrow Awards embody the values, principles and standards of Edward R. Murrow, a pioneer of journalism who set the standard for the highest quality in broadcast journalism. The Murrow Awards are among the most prestigious awards given to journalists in the world.
This award, announced on August 15, is the first national Murrow win for WKMS. The station has won two regional Murrow Awards, including one in 2021 for excellence in diversity, equity and inclusion for its coverage of the resurrection of a photo of a local educator with blackface makeup and one in 2022 for its breaking coverage of the December 2021 tornado outbreak.
A native of Missouri, Mason currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where he works as an education and outreach associate for Alaska Public Media as part of his Americorps assignment.
WKMS is Murray State’s NPR station and part of Murray State University’s educational mission. You can hear news from the WKMS news team on 91.3 FM and wkms.org or on 90.9 WKMD Madisonville and 89.5 WKMT Fulton. There is also a classical-only station and a WKMS music station. For more information about WKMS, call 1-800-599-4737 or www.wkms.org.
