AZPM was honored with multiple national awards from PMJA for work produced in 2024.
Arizona Public Media (AZPM) is proud to announce that its news team has been honored with three prestigious national awards from the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA), recognizing excellence in public media journalism across the country.
AZPM’s newsroom stood out among its peers, earning one first-place and two second-place national awards, demonstrating the team’s commitment to powerful storytelling, accountability journalism, and service to the community.
First Place – Narrative/Produced Program
Tapped, Season 3 The award-winning podcast by AZPM dives deep into the complexities of water issues in the American Southwest. With stories ranging from the fight over the Colorado River to the health risks posed by PFAS chemicals, Tapped brings forward a mix of investigative journalism and personal narratives that shine a light on the critical issues shaping the region’s future.
Produced by Zac Ziegler, Christopher Conover, Paola Rodriguez, Katya Mendoza, Hannah Cree, and Danyelle Khmara
Second Place – Documentary
Tapped: “Broken Promises, Contaminated Waters: Uranium Mining on the Navajo Nation An investigation reveals the deadly health toll of uranium mining on Navajo land, where contaminated water and broken promises have left generations fighting for survival.
By Paola Rodriguez, Katya Mendoza, and Zac Ziegler
Second Place – Continuing Coverage
Arizona’s reproductive rights reckoning: A year of historic change
AZPM News investigates Arizona’s shifting abortion laws, their impact on communities, and the political and legal battles shaping access to care.
By Paola Rodriguez, Christopher Conover, Steve Jess, Zac Ziegler, and Maggie Farmer
“These awards reflect the talent, passion, and integrity of our newsroom,” said Bohdan Zachary, AZPM Chief Original Content Officer. “We are especially proud that our team’s work, produced right here in Southern Arizona, is being recognized nationally for its impact and quality.”
The 2025 PMJA awards, announced during the organization’s annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri, celebrate the best work produced by public media journalists in 2024. In her keynote address, Kelly McBride, Senior Vice President of the Poynter Institute, singled out AZPM’s reporting as a model for other newsrooms, specifically citing its "expertise" on abortion. McBride urged public media outlets to stop trying to cover everything and instead become experts on topics that matter most. Her remarks reinforced AZPM’s role as a national leader in issue-focused, community-centered journalism.
These recent honors add to AZPM’s growing legacy of award-winning reporting. In 2024, AZPM received a PMJA award for the innovative interviews featured in the episode of The Buzz: El Tour de Mayor. In 2023, AZPM received PMJA awards in the categories of Interview Podcast, Interview, and News Feature.
This year, more than 1,450 entries were submitted from public media organizations nationwide, and awards were presented across five divisions based on newsroom size. In all, PMJA presented 266 awards to 113 organizations in 2025, judged by more than 70 public media professionals. See the full list of winners here.
About PMJA
The Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) is a professional association for public media journalists in the United States. Membership includes over 130 local public radio newsrooms across the country. PMJA’s programs provide professional development, career support and networking opportunities to the over 1,800 journalists working at its member stations.
About AZPM
Arizona Public Media (AZPM) is an editorially independent, nonprofit community service of the University of Arizona and provides three television program services (PBS 6, PBS 6 Plus, and PBS Kids), four radio services (NPR 89.1, Classical 90.5, Jazz 89.1 HD2, and the BBC World Service) and a variety of online program offerings. AZPM is funded through the generous support of annual and sustaining members, the business community through program underwriting, fee-for-service production activities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and direct and in-kind support from the University of Arizona. Arizona Public Media® and AZPM® are registered trademarks of the Arizona Board of Regents, which holds the FCC broadcast licenses for all AZPM stations, for the benefit of the University of Arizona. More information about AZPM, including program schedules and Video-on-Demand offerings, can be found online at azpm.org.
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