Alex Stone, a senior majoring in broadcast news at CU-葫芦娃视频's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, has received a national award for investigative reporting from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
He also received an award from ABC for Radio National Individual Reporter of the Year, placing as first runner-up.
Stone, a reporter for KOA-AM in Denver, was honored along with Bob Newman, KOA's security expert, with the 2002 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award in the local radio stations, large-market category for their series, "A DIA Security Report Card: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."
"This is an outstanding achievement for any journalist, but for someone this early in his career, it's remarkable," said Meg Moritz, associate dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and head of the broadcast sequence.
"In Alex's case, it's not really surprising. He's been working fulltime as a KOA reporter since he arrived as a freshman. He was an on-air reporter when he was in high school. He's a gifted person and I'm sure we will see Alex make other major national contributions with his reporting. Needless to say, we are extremely proud of him."
In the series of reports, Stone and Newman anonymously investigated security procedures at Denver International Airport shortly after the Sept. 11 tragedies last year.
"Bob and I pushed the limits just weeks after 9/11 to see how tight airport security truly was during that tense time," Stone said. "We parked in so-called secure areas, tried to look suspicious to see if police would question us -- they didn't -- walked through open doors into secure baggage areas, found gaps in the secure fencing, and were never stopped.
"The airport refused to comment on the piece until it aired and caused a stir. What they didn't seem to understand is that if we could find the security lapses, the terrorists could also."
Stone plans to graduate in December and continue working as the morning weekday reporter on KOA's Colorado Morning News and as host for the Saturday edition.
Stone also was the first runner-up for ABC Radio National Individual Reporter of the Year. He was nominated for a series of national ABC reports on the summer wildfires, airport security problems, flooding, a tornado, downtown riots, a plane crash and several other stories. He traveled to Seattle to accept the award last month.
CU-葫芦娃视频's School of Journalism and Mass Communication provides a variety of degree programs for students interested in journalism careers. Undergraduate program offerings include advertising, broadcast news, broadcast production management, news-editorial and media studies. Several graduate degree programs also are offered.
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