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# IowaWatch Connection Wins Seven Iowa Broadcast News Association Awards For 2016 Reports
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/80408/
- Published: 2017-04-23T18:55:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T02:38:53.000Z
- Description: The IowaWatch Connection radio program collected seven awards, including two for first place, for large market radio reporting at the 2017 Iowa Broadcast News Association convention in Johnston, Iowa, on Saturday, April 22.
- Author: IowaWatch
- Tags: Environment, Investigate Midwest News, iowawatch, The Lead Story, broadcast news, Cedar Falls Tiger Hi-Line, climate change, Iowa Broadcast News Association, Iowa broadcasters, Iowa veterans, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

![](https://www.iowawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Logo_with-IaInsuranceDiv.jpg)

The IowaWatch Connection radio program collected seven awards, including two for first place, for large market radio reporting at the 2017 [Iowa Broadcast News Association ](http://ibna.org/?ref=investigatemidwest.org)convention in Johnston, Iowa, on April 22.

Each week program host and producer Jeff Stein examines an IowaWatch story in depth during the 23-minute program.

The program’s winning entries were:

- First place: General reporting, for a report featuring [Hannah Soyer’s revelation](https://soundcloud.com/iowawatch/the-iowawatch-connection-program-102-ada-and-school-compliance?ref=investigatemidwest.org) about the failure of almost all Iowa schools inspected from 2010-16 to pass ADA standards.
- First place: Public affairs, for a report that featured an IowaWatch investigation with the Cedar Falls Tiger Hi-Line student newspaper into the disparity of [how climate change is taught](https://soundcloud.com/iowawatch/the-iowawatch-connection-program-95-climate-change-education?ref=investigatemidwest.org) in Iowa schools.

![](https://www.iowawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CedarFallsHS_Stein_Tana-Gam-Ad-3.31.16.jpg)

Cedar Falls High School Tiger Hi-Line reporter Tana Gam-ad listens on March 31, 2016, while IowaWatch Connection host and KXEL radio station manager Jeff Stein explains best practices for getting broadcast audio.

Second place: In-depth/Series, for the climate change report that won first place for public affairs. 

- Second place: Use of an actuality, for [a January 2016 report ](https://soundcloud.com/iowawatch/the-iowawatch-connection-program-83-weekend-before-the-caucus?ref=investigatemidwest.org)on the upcoming Feb. 1, 2016, presidential precinct caucuses in Iowa.
- Third place: Political coverage, for the caucus report that won second place for use of an actuality.
- Third place: Farm and agribusiness, for [a report on the hazards](https://soundcloud.com/iowawatch/the-iowawatch-connection-program-103-pesticide-hazards?ref=investigatemidwest.org) existing in pesticides that people to protect crops and plants.
- Third place: General reporting, for a report featuring Thomas Nelson’s investigation into the disconnect between [Iowa’s homeless veterans ](https://investigatemidwest.org/podcast-helping-homeless-veterans-in-iowa-still-a-struggle-for-some/?ref=investigatemidwest.org)and services available to them.

The IowaWatch Connection, a statewide audience engagement program, was launched in July 2014\. Program host and producer Jeff Stein also is executive director of the Iowa Broadcast News Association and a noted Iowa broadcast historian. Awards were determined by independent, out-of-state judges.

**[CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE IOWAWATCH CONNECTION, AND TO HEAR PODCASTS OF ITS PROGRAMS](https://investigatemidwest.org/radio/?ref=investigatemidwest.org)**