Indiana Public Radio (IPR), Ball State University's public radio service, recently won four awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), adding to the number of honors the organization has received in the last few months. Combined with 10 awards from the Associated Press, five from Network Indiana and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), IPR News has become one of the top award-winning news radio operations in the Midwest, said Terry Heifetz, IPR news director.

"We've always known that IPR is one of the best when it comes to covering the news," he said. "It is our goal to bring the most important news to the listeners of east central Indiana. We are honored to be recognized for our hard work by our fellow news professionals."

SPJ first-place honors went to

• Brian Beaver, senior news reporter/producer, in the Best Radio Spot News category
• Marcus Jackman, senior producer, for Best Coverage of Minority Issues
• Stan Sollars, a senior producer and on-air host for IPR's "Morning Edition," and the IPR news team received a second-place award for Best Radio Newscast
• Beaver also received a third-place honor for Best Radio General News/Continuous Coverage

Earlier this spring, Beaver was named Best Radio Reporter by the Associated Press for the third consecutive year. So far in 2005, he has received 15 of the news service's 20 awards.

The newscast that won a second place from SPJ for best radio newscast previously won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from RTNDA, a third-place award from Associated Press and an honorable mention from Network Indiana.

IPR was one of only five public radio stations in large or small markets in RTNDA's 14 regions to win the Murrow Award for Best Newscast.

The best newscast awards honors are a result of the Dec. 23, 2004, broadcast of "Morning Edition," anchored and edited by Sollars. Assisting Sollars were telecommunications students Alyssa Ivanson and Derek Tucker from NewsLink Indiana, Ball State's news convergence program.

A complete list of IPR's broadcast awards can be found at www.bsu.edu/ipr.

Indiana Public Radio is a service of Ball State, a Public Radio International affiliate and a National Public Radio member station. Its format includes NPR, news and classical music broadcast on WBST 92.1 FM Muncie; WBSB 89.5 FM, Anderson; WBSW 90.9 FM, Marion; WBSJ 91.7 FM, Portland; and WBSH 91.1 FM, Hagerstown-New Castle.