KYUK receives 8 Alaska Press Club awards

KYUK received eight awards at the Alaska Press Club Conference Awards Ceremony in Anchorage on April 20 for journalism produced in 2023. The awards honor Alaska journalists working at newspapers, radio and television stations, and freelancing throughout the state.

KYUK received one first-place and three second-place awards for work competing against all other types of media outlets in the state, as well as two second-place and two third-place awards for audio work.

KYUK reporters Evan Erickson and Emily Schwing, as well as former reporters Francisco Martínezcuello and Sunni Bean, were honored at the ceremony. News director Sage Smiley also received awards for work done at KSTK in Wrangell, Alaska.

Every story produced by KYUK is a collaboration between the people involved in the story, the journalist and the audience. We share these awards with the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Quyana cakneq for your support, insight, care, questions, concerns and stories.

First Place, All Media: Best Natural Sound Audio Story, Francisco Martínezcuello

• LISTEN: Kimberly Fitka O’Domin ceremony and family reflection

Second Place, All Media: Best Solo Journalism, Emily Schwing

• Going to Pieces: Tracking the progress of America’s first climate change relocation

Second Place, All Media: Best Fisheries Reporting, Emily Schwing

• Despite years of poor salmon fishing, four generations of Nulato women keep the fire in their family smokehouse burning

Second Place, All Media: Best Investigative Reporting, Emily Schwing

• Lost in Translation: FEMA sent ‘unintelligible’ disaster relief application information to Alaska Natives impacted by Typhoon Merbok

Second Place, Audio: Best Sports Reporting, Francisco Martínezcuello

• Both Warrior teams win regional tournament and head to state wrestling competition

Second Place, Audio: Best Reporting on Science, Emily Schwing and Rashah McChesney

• 100 million years ago, dinosaurs left clues about how they lived in Interior Alaska. This summer, a research team went looking for them

Third Place, Audio: Best Education Reporting, Sunni Bean

• LKSD’s new test to measure Yugtun in a Yup’ik way

Third Place, Audio: Best Same-Day Feature, Evan Erickson

• Dozens testify in Bethel during federal hearing on salmon: ‘We bear the brunt of the conservation’

KYUK news team members were also integral to Alaska Public Media’s win for 2023’s Best Newscast of the year, with stories from Francisco Martínezcuello and Emily Schwing featured in the half-hour news program on the winning date.

KYUK news director Sage Smiley joined the team late last year, after spending most of 2023 as news director of KSTK in Wrangell, Alaska. She received five awards at this year’s Alaska Press Club conference for her work at KSTK. Those include:

First Place, All Media: Best Solo Journalism

• Sage Smiley, KSTK

First Place, Audio: Best Reporting on Science, Sage Smiley

• 3,000-year-old bone draws new link between Lingít people and their ancestors

First Place, Audio: Best Sound-Rich Feature, Sage Smiley

• Sharing cultures as Hōkūle‘a voyagers arrive in Wrangell

Second Place, All Media: Best Natural Sound Audio Story, Sage Smiley

• Maybe now it’s time… ‘Annie’ opens at the Nolan Center this week

Third Place, Audio: Best Reporting on Government or Politics, Sage Smiley

• Coastal communities like Wrangell face costly sewage treatment upgrades in coming years

For her work at KSTK in 2023, Smiley was also one of the recipients of the Alaska Press Club’s Public Service Award, which was presented collectively to the journalists in one-person newsrooms throughout the state.

Read the full list of Alaska Press Club awards here.