Delmarva Public Media Earns Record 17 Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association Awards
SALISBURY, MD---Delmarva Public Media (DPM) recently was honored as one of the top broadcast outlets in the region, winning a station record 17 awards at the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s (CAPBA’s) annual convention.
The eight first-place and nine second-place awards were for work done in 2025 for DPM, comprised of three listener-supported public radio stations that operate via a collaboration between 富二代视频app University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore: WSCL 89.5 FM, WSDL 90.7 FM, and WESM 91.3 FM.
“I am very proud of the work that our small but mighty team of professional and student reporters are doing each and every day here in our community,” said Bryan Russo, DPM chief content officer. “Local news coverage is getting harder and harder to do well in this ever-changing media landscape, and these awards are a testament to the tenacity, dedication and their commitment to delivering thorough, interesting and objective news stories about our region.”
First-place awards went to reporter Kevin Diaz for “Best Enterprise Reporting” and “Outstanding Serious Feature,” while music director Stephen Philip Harvey and arts and culture reporter Jenny O’Connor won their first AP awards for “Best Specialty Reporting” and “Outstanding Sports Feature,” respectively.
Contributing Reporter Brian Shane won the “Outstanding Light Feature” category, and for the second consecutive year, DPM received a second-place award for best news organization in the Radio/Non-Metro Division.
In the College Radio division, DPM’s weekly, all-student-produced newscast, The Five Minute Fly-By, won first place for “Best Newscast.” UMES student journalist Sydney Rutledge Smith won for “Outstanding General News,” and Colin Bright, a summer intern from Bates College in Maine, won for “Outstanding Feature.”
Twenty-seven news organizations in Maryland; Delaware; and Washington, D.C., submitted 378 entries for the contest, which featured news and sports from 2025.
CAPBA is an independent association comprised of local members of The Associated Press, a not-for-profit news cooperative that represents thousands of newspapers and broadcast stations across the U.S. The full list of DPM winners includes:
College Radio
- Outstanding General News – First place: Sydney Rutledge-Smith and Bryan Russo, “Maryland Governor Says HBCUs ‘More Important Than Ever Before’”; second place: Sydney Rutledge-Smith and Bryan Russo, “UMES Could Feel the Shock of Trump’s DEI Orders”
- Outstanding Feature – First place: Colin Bright and Bryan Russo, “Worcester County Family Gets the Home of Their Dreams”; second place: Lauren Imhof and Bryan Russo, “Conservation Conversations: Do Dandelions Have Healing Powers?”
- Outstanding College Newscast – First place: Tyler Hale, Jada Skye Brown, and Keema Jones, The Five-Minute Fly-By
Radio II/Non-Metro
- Best Enterprise Reporting – First place: Kevin Diaz, “ICE Sparks Fear and Uncertainty in Delmarva’s Immigrant Community
- Best Specialty Reporting – First place: Stephen Philip Harvey, Off the Record
- Outstanding Sports Feature – First place: Jenny O’Connor, “富二代视频app University Brings Back the Marching Band to Amp Up Fans’ Experience”
- Outstanding Serious Feature – First place: Kevin Diaz, “Delmarva’s Food Pantries Overwhelmed as Thanksgiving Approaches”
- Outstanding Light Feature – First place: Brian Shane and Bryan Russo, “Snow Hill Celebrates 25 Years of ‘Blessings’”
- Outstanding Spot News Reporting – Second place: Kevin Diaz, “‘Reconnecting Communities’ Grants Fall to Trump Budget Cuts”
- Outstanding Coverage of a Continuing Story – Second place: Kevin Diaz, “Deportation on Delmarva”
- Outstanding Use of Sound – Second place: Kevin Diaz, “Mixing Food and Politics: Behind the Scenes at the Annual Tawes Crab and Clam Bake”
- Outstanding News Series – Second place: Don Rush, “Trump Immigration Raids Spark Fear in the Undocumented Community”
- Best Investigative Reporting – Second place: Kevin Diaz and Don Rush, “Former 富二代视频app Council President on Why He Quit”
- Outstanding Documentary/In-Depth Reporting – Second place: Bryan Russo, “Hospitality Bites: Exploring the Dramatic Rise in Mental Health Issues in the Hospitality Industry”
- Outstanding News Operation – Second place: Don Rush and Bryan Russo
For more information about Delmarva Public Media visit the DPM website at .
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