The win places STLPR’s name among the best digital news organizations in the country.
St. Louis Public Radio earned national recognition Sunday, winning a 2024 EPPY Award from Editor & Publisher Magazine, which honors the best in digital news publishing. It was STLPR’s first ever EPPY Award recognition.
The station received the Best Collaborative Investigative/Enterprise Reporting Award (fewer than 1 million unique viewers) for Unsolved —a multi-part investigation of St. Louis’ homicide clearance rates, produced in partnership with APM Reports and The Marshall Project.
The judges had high praise for the investigative series in their remarks, calling the piece “thorough, enlightening and important reporting that prompted policy and practice changes — and hopefully a more aggressive pursuit of justice.”
“Too often, the 'if it bleeds, it leads' practice at too many news outlets means the victims — as well as the perpetrators — are forgotten as reporters move on to the next attention-grabbing event,” the judges wrote. “This collaboration focused attention where it needed to be — whether justice was being done, perpetrators were being held to account and justice was done for the victims. In St. Louis, clearly, too much was lacking as these reports uncovered and too often law enforcement wasn't doing its job . . .”
The series was reported by STLPR’s Justice Correspondent Rachel Lippmann and Visuals Editor Brian Munoz, in collaboration with APM Reports Deputy Managing Editor of Investigations Tom Scheck and Data Reporter Jennifer Lu, and The Marshall Project Staff Reporter Alysia Santo.
The series was produced with additional contributions from STLPR editors Brian Heffernan, Fred Ehrlich, Lara Hamdan, and Maria Altman; reporter Shahla Farzan, photojournalists Tristen Rouse and Eric Lee, and developer Alex Rice.
"This recognition of our reporting is a huge honor for STLPR and our partners, APM Reports, and The Marshall Project," said Brian Heffernan, St. Louis Public Radio's interim news director. "The series underscores why we must remain relentless in our pursuit of transparency and accountability from our public institutions. It took years of fighting in the courts for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to turn over data about homicide clearance rates that should have been publicly available all along. The fight to serve the public interest is a good fight."
The EPPY Awards, now in their 26th year, are the gold standard for digital journalism. The national award from Editor & Publisher Magazine recognizes outstanding achievement in multimedia news publishing for legacy newspapers, broadcasters, digital-first platforms, and academic institutions.
EPPY Award judges represented more than 40 esteemed media professionals and academic experts. Entries were evaluated for design, interactivity, timeliness, overall quality, and excellence in multimedia formats.
"This was such a nice thing to see in my inbox upon returning from vacation,” said STLPR’s Rachel Lippmann. “I am grateful for the guidance and support of APM Reports, The Marshall Project, and my coworkers here at STLPR. It is wonderful to see good journalism recognized in such a way, and it's the contributions of members that make it possible for us to do that work. We appreciate that support."
STLPR Visual Editor Brian Munoz was delighted to see the series recognized for its visual approach.
"This series emphasized the importance of remembering the victims of tragedy after the spotlight fades," Munoz said. "We strived to center family members — and the communities they're part of — in our visual reportage for this series. We hope the images and voices of those around these late-St. Louisans serve as a reminder of who was lost and what there is to gain once their killings are solved."
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The Midwest region received additional recognition as The Telegraph was designated Best Daily Newspaper Website.
“We are proud to see The Telegraph receive such well-deserved recognition,” wrote Jeffrey Johnson, President of Hearst Newspapers. “We continue to believe our newspapers play a vital role in their communities, and this honor affirms the great efforts of our colleagues at The Telegraph.”
The complete list of Eppy winners is online.
