The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) received several awards from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ) Awards. Additionally, OETA’s journalist and Oklahoma News Report (ONR) anchor, Lis Exon, has been honored at the 47th anniversary induction ceremonies of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.
OETA received four first place SPJ Awards in news, documentary, special program and diversity categories. Second and third place prizes were awarded for history documentaries on Penn Square Bank - “Breaking the Bank”, Langston University - “Langston History” and a biography on an Oklahoma aeronautical legend - “Wiley Post”. The SPJ awards are held annually and awarded to print and broadcast journalists.
Bill Perry, OETA’s Vice President of Content Production and head of the documentary department stated, “We put in long hours creating documentaries and are excited to be recognized with these Oklahoma-based awards. It’s always an honor to compete with other noteworthy and well-deserving organizationsin this state.” Perry expressed high praise for the talented documentary staff which includes Robert Burch, Ryan Lorg, Collin Fowler and Dave Tamez
Steve Bennet, Bob Sands, Aaron Byrd and Braxton Snodgrass also won several SPJ Awards for their work on features like “Steamboat Heroine” and news coverage ranging from poverty to immigration.
Exon’s Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame induction comes after years of dedicated service to broadcast journalism in Oklahoma. In her acceptance speech she mentioned the importance of public broadcasting and how, unlike commercial news, she has the opportunity and the time to effectively research and present a story. In addition to her hall of fame induction, Exon and her Tulsa colleague, Tim Carson, were both awarded a first place SPJ Award for their coverage in the “Innocence Project.”
“I’m both proud and excited about the work we do at OETA,” Mark Norman said. Norman, as Interim Executive Director of OETA, is passionate about the documentaries and news coverage that is produced. “I don’t think the public really knows how lucky they are to have such dedicated journalists working for them - getting the answers they deserve on issues they care about. We’re very lucky to have them at OETA.”
Viewers can tune in every Friday night at 7 p.m. to watch ONR. All of OETA's locally produced content, including this year's award winning programs, are available to stream at videos.oeta.tv.