KJZZ has won three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for news coverage in 2020.
The announcement was made May 6th by the Radio Television Digital News Association.
KJZZ won in the Hard News; Excellence in Writing; and Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion categories.
Revisit the award-winning stories from Kendal Blust, Rodrigo Cervantes and Nicholas Gerbis.
Hard News: Some Sonoran Students, Families Struggle For Education Amid The Pandemic
Kendal Blust/KJZZ
Eivon Peralta helps her 4-year-old son Jesús with his homework at a neighborhood youth center in September 2020 after schools closed in Sonora amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the series "COVID-19 In Arizona: 6 Months In," Kendal Blust explored how schooling is going south of the border. Many people were struggling to adapt to new distance learning in Mexico, where going to class now means watching TV — for those who have access to one.
Excellence In Diversity, Equity And Inclusion: Mexicans Of African Descent Fight For Recognition
Office of the Mexican President
"Danza de los Diablos" (the Dance of the Devils) in Cuajinijuilapa, Mexico, a community self-identified as Afro-Mexican.
Mexico has a rich African heritage but also an adjacent history of oblivion. Rodrigo Cervantes told the story of Afro descendants in Mexico fighting to be respected and recognized.
Excellence In Writing: COVID-19 Coverage
Luciano Matzkin
Fernando Diaz Gonzalez, a postdoc in Luciano Matzkin's lab, observes the natural habitat of cactophilic drosophila (fruit flies): dead cactus.
Nicholas Gerbis's collection of stories about COVID-19 in Arizona explored the long-term effects of the disease, and what it has been like for scientists who continued research during the pandemic, as well as those who are experiencing homelessness.
Winners move on to the national round of judging, which will be announced later this year.