The podcast series “Shots in the Back: Exhuming the 1970 Augusta Riot,” produced by the Jessye Norman School of the Arts and Georgia Public Broadcasting, has been announced as a winner of the 2021 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This is the first year that the National Edward R. Murrow Awards have included a category in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and both Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Jessye Norman School of the Arts are the first organizations to win this honor.

The podcast follows the series of events that led to one of the only major Civil Rights Era riots in the South, beginning with the brutal murder of Charles Oatman, an African American teenager held by police in the county jail. JNSA podcast students interviewed several firsthand witnesses and local experts to produce the series.

Led by the school’s podcast instructor, Sea Stachura, Jessye Norman School students in grades 5-12 helped report, record, and produce “Shots in the Back.” The podcast is unique in that it features real student conversations about the Augusta riot and its historical implications. Students also have in-depth conversations with witnesses who directly experienced the historic riot.

“It’s an awesome thing to have this level of recognition in Augusta and, more specifically, to have our after school program recognized alongside giants in broadcast journalism,” says JNSA Director Gary Dennis. “I’m incredibly grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to partner with Journalistic professionals like Sea Stachura and with her counterparts at Georgia Public Broadcasting... We’re so proud of all those who helped bring ‘Shots in the Back’ to fruition.”

The project won the Atlanta Press Club Award for “Best Podcast” earlier in the year, as well as a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. By winning at the regional level, the podcast then entered the competition for the National Edward R. Murrow Award alongside a slate of other impressive journalism projects. The Radio Television Digital News Association announced the National Award Winners on August 17th, 2021.

“I’m so grateful JNSA fostered this project and took the risk to make it, and I am pleased to see it resonated with the Murrow’s esteemed judges,” Sea Stachura, the podcast instructor, says. “This award is shared by a lot of people who kept us on the right track with our reporting and our

storytelling. But it most deservedly belongs to the students who helped us tell a unique, relevant and useful podcast.”

The series was the first major podcast project produced by JNSA’s high school and middle school students. When the podcast series was first released on GPB’s website, it quickly became the number 1 podcast on the website with over 400,000 downloads.

“I’m very surprised it was so powerful,” says Atticus, one of the podcast students. “It feels like something I just did with my friends, and then hundreds of thousands of people listened to it. It’s kind of incomprehensible.”

More information about the podcast can be found at https://www.gpb.org/podcasts/shots-in-the- back-exhuming-the-1970-augusta-riot. You can download the podcast at https:// podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shots-in-the-back-exhuming-the-1970-augusta-riot/ id1518652796.