March 17, 2006 - WUIS’ Crawford wins IAP award for investigative reporting
SPRINGFIELD – WUIS Statehouse Bureau Chief Sean Crawford was among the top winners in the Illinois Associated Press Broadcasters Association 2005 Journalism Excellence Contest. Crawford took second place in the Best Investigative Series, Downstate Radio Division, for his report titled “Trucking Money.”
“Trucking Money,” first broadcast on WUIS-WIPA in February 2005, examined how Illinois decides which companies to help with state dollars. It profiled two trucking firms, one of which had threatened to move to Missouri after a dramatic raise in Illinois truck licensing fees. This firm subsequently received a grant to remain in southern Illinois; however, a rival firm that made no such threats got nothing from the state.
Crawford has received numerous awards for coverage of state government and politics. In 2001 he received an Associated Press award for documentary work. In 2002 and 2003 he won awards for Radio Beat Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, and in 2005 he received another ACRE award for a story on “The Elusive Third Chicagoland Airport.”
He became Statehouse bureau chief for WUIS in September 2005 after serving as a Statehouse reporter for the station since 1997 and covering local news on the station’s Morning Edition broadcasts for two years before that. Crawford was news director of WKBM/Joliet from 1989 to 1992 and began his radio career at WJPF/Herrin in 1984. He received a master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting at the University of Illinois at Springfield in 1997.
To hear a webcast of “Trucking Money,” go to www.wuis.org/.