Detroit PBS journalists won a dozen awards at the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists – Detroit Chapter annual banquet honoring excellence in journalism. Those included seven first-place awards across One Detroit, American Black Journal and Great Lakes Now. Reporters earned top honors for the coverage across education, the environment, health, community news, general news and more. Detroit PBS also earned three second-place awards and one third-place award for its collaborative reporting with The Detroit News and the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative.
TELEVISION:
Education reporting
First Place: One Detroit – Will Glover for artificial intelligence series, which included three stories:
- Wayne State University’s AI for Mobility Project seeks to improve Detroit’s public transit system
- University of Michigan becomes first college to create AI tools for campus, students
- AI’s impact on the workforce: A conversation with the Workforce Intelligence Network
Feature Reporting
First Place: One Detroit – Chris Jordan, Andrea Riley, Leland Stein and Nate Turner for Haunted Detroit Part 1: The Whitney and Haunted Detroit Part 2: The Orson Starr House.
Health Reporting
First Place: One Detroit – Jonathan Shead and Jena Brooker (BridgeDetroit) for Detroit People’s Food Co-op opening broadens access to healthy foods in the city’s North End.
Second Place: American Black Journal – Daphne Hughes and Stephen Henderson for The Black Church provides support and sanctuary for youth facing mental health challenges.
News/Public Affairs (Regular Scheduled Program)
First Place: Great Lakes Now – Rob Green, Anna Sysling and Jordan Wingrove, Bill Allesee and Adam Fox-Long for “Great Lakes Now.”
Second Place: American Black Journal and Bridge Detroit – Daphne Hughes, Stephen Henderson, Micah Walker (BridgeDetroit) for The restoration of Malcolm X’s former home in Inkster, Michigan.
Third Place: One Detroit – Zosette Guir, Elisha Anderson, Daphne Hughes, Bill Kubota, Will Glover, Chris Jordan for “One Detroit.”
Community/Local News Reporting
First Place: American Black Journal – Daphne Hughes, Daijah Moss, Dan Ketchum, Dean Underwood and Darin Donahue for Hundreds in attendance for 17th annual Silence the Violence march to end gun violence.
Environment Reporting
First Place: Great Lakes Now – Kathy Johnson and Jordan Wingrove for Stocking The Mighty Great Lakes Muskie.
General News Reporting
First Place: Great Lakes Now – Greg King, Adam Fox-Long and Jordan Wingrove, Jena Brooker (BridgeDetroit) for The Hidden Rivers Fueling Urban Flooding.
DIGITAL:
Environmental Reporting
Second Place: One Detroit – Nicole Macdonald and Bill Kubota for How one Detroit neighborhood stopped heavy industry in its midst.
Collaborative Coverage
Third place: One Detroit, The Detroit News and the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative – Nushrat Rahman, Hayley Harding, Bill Kubota, Jennifer Brookland and Cassie Chew for One Detroit and The Detroit News examine potential solutions to decrease maternal deaths in Michigan.
View the full list of 2025 Society of Professional Journalism – Detroit Chapter award winners here.