From top left: Sasha Khokha (’04), April Dembosky (’08), Elena Neale-Sacks (’22), Vanessa Rancaño (’14), Tessa Paoli (’20), Victoria Mauleon (’01), Anna Sussman (’05), Rachael Myrow (’95) and Ethan Toven-Lindsey.
Eight alums and a UC Berkeley Journalism instructor have been honored with 2026 Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association’s Region 2 for outstanding achievements in both professional and student-level broadcast and digital journalism. The awards recognize local news stories that uphold the news association’s Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.
All regional winners automatically advance to the national competition, which will be announced in August.
Sasha Khokha (’04) won the Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion category for ‘Love You for You’ for KQED’s The California Report Magazine. The series features trans and nonbinary youth from across California in conversation with the people closest in their lives. The interviews in “Love You for You” series were produced by Tessa Paoli (’20) and Suzie Racho. The senior editor is Victoria Mauleon (’01).
Vanessa Rancaño (’14) of KQED was honored in the Feature Reporting category for her profile of Phelisha Saffold, a “violence interrupter” at Oakland’s Castlemont High School. Saffold and others in this Oakland Unified School District program work to observe and stamp out school violence before it happens, but are now faced with an uncertain future brought about by an enormous budget shortfall. Rancaño and KQED were also honored in the News Series category for coverage of camping bans and enforcement across the state that target unhoused people.
Elena Neale-Sacks (’22) won the Continuing Coverage Radio | Small Market category for “The lasting impacts of the Moss Landing battery plant fire“, for KAZU in Monterey, California.
April Dembosky’s (’08) coverage of the San Francisco Giants’ mental wellness program for KQED won the Sports Reporting category.
Anna Sussman (’05) contributed to a story by Mark Betancourt of KQED and The California Newsroom that won the Digital category for their coverage of an Ethiopian asylum seeker tortured by her own government and then denied legal protections in the U.S.
Rachael Myrow (’95) was the editor on Farida Jhabvala Romero’s story that won the Investigative Reporting category for covering efforts to protect California stoneworkers from the harmful effects of dangerous silica dust produced by cutting engineered stone, for KQED.
Journalism instructor and former lecturer Ethan Toven-Lindsey (a ‘00 Cal alum in English Literature) is editor in chief at KQED and oversees radio programming, including the KQED programs and shows honored above.
National winners will be celebrated at the 2026 Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala, to be held Oct. 12, 2026, at Gotham Hall in New York City.
The Murrow Awards, first handed out in 1971, are among the most prestigious in journalism. In 2025, about 5,000 entries were submitted in the professional and student categories across all regions of the United States.