The Mountain West News Bureau wins National Murrow Award

The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) announced Thursday the winners of the 2025 national Edward R. Murrow Awards. These awards honor the highest caliber journalism being produced by radio, television and online news organizations around the world.

The Mountain West News Bureau's Yvette Fernandez from Nevada Public Radio won Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for her feature reporting on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for Indigenous people in the Southwest after Congress let the main way of paying for treatment expire.

Symbolic medical bills and prayers: Tribes fight for RECA, share struggles from radiation exposure

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) wasn’t renewed by Congress earlier this year. Many people are still dealing with the health and financial effects of nuclear testing, and several Tribes traveled to Washington, D.C., in September to let lawmakers know about their concerns.

Fernandez examined how the end of the RECA program has left many Indigenous families without resources for medical care, despite decades of health impacts from nuclear testing. Her reporting combined deep research with powerful first-person storytelling, illuminating the human toll of policy decisions while amplifying voices often left our of the national conversation.

This national honor recognizes not only Fernandez’s reporting, but also the Mountain West News Bureau’s commitment to telling complex, underrepresented stories from across the region. Indigenous affairs, including the weekly program Our Living Lands, is a main plank of the Bureau's journalism

"The Mountain West News Bureau first launched in 2018 and since then, our regional reporters have brought amazing stories to our audiences," said Tom Michael, general manager of Boise State Public Radio, the Bureau's lead station. "Journalism like this from Yvette and managing editor Michael de Yoanna, is essential for helping us become more educated about what is going on in our own backyards."

The news bureau, a collaboration that provides regional coverage on a wide range of issues, is based at Boise State Public Radio in Idaho. It includes Nevada Public Radio, where Fernandez works, KANW in New Mexico, KUNC in Colorado, KUNR in Nevada and Wyoming Public Media, with support from affiliate stations across the region.

RTDNA has been honoring achievements in journalism since 1971. Award recipients are said to demonstrate "the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of broadcast and digital journalism."

In May, RTDNA recognized winners of the Regional Murrow Awards, which automatically advanced to the national competition.

The award will be presented at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala on Oct. 13 at Gotham Hall in New York City.