The radio judging committee also recognized Ashley Ahearn of KUOW Public Radio in Seattle for a three-part series on coal in the Pacific Northwest (11 March, 12 March, and 18 June 2013). Energy companies have been assessing several sites for ship terminals in Washington and Oregon where coal could be transferred from trains arriving from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. "The prospect of exporting millions of tons of coal through the Northwest is, and will continue to be, the most important story on my beat." Ahearn said. "My goal in this series was to use science to answer my listeners' questions about coal's impacts on human health and the regional environment, as well as the global implications of burning that coal once it gets to Asia."
Naomi Starobin, news director for WSHU Public Radio in Fairfield, Conn., called Ahearn's series "a wonderful example of solid, important local reporting." The judges, on occasion, give certificates of merit to runner-up entries that are considered to be particularly noteworthy.
