WAFF.com: North Alabama News, Radar, Weather, Sports and Jobs-WAFF.com wins prestigious Edward R. Murrow award

WAFF.com wins prestigious Edward R. Murrow award

WAFF 48 has received the Radio and Television News Directors' Association's regional Edward R. Murrow Award for its website, WAFF.com. WAFF 48 was the only North Alabama television station honored with a regional Murrow award this year.

For the prestigious award, the RTNDA judges news websites on their depth and quality, content, innovation, use of audio and video, visual design, functionality and interactivity.

"It's an honor to be recognized for journalism excellence," said Jeff Hoffman, WAFF 48 Vice president and General Manager. "But I'm most proud of our team's daily, even hourly, commitment to be the best information source to our viewers and website visitors."

Currently, WAFF.com offers visitors a constant source of up-to-the minute news and includes video segments and investigative reports. It also allows for innovative storytelling such as the on-going live shot of the WAFF 48 news room during a recent election day.

During severe weather, the WAFF 48 Storm Team meteorologists are able to stream their weather coverage uninterrupted on WAFF.com so visitors can get vital weather conditions at the click of a mouse.  In addition, WAFF.com offers ‘You Track Storms', live radar that can be manipulated by the visitor to focus on specific county or community. This and other features on WAFF.com let visitors monitor weather conditions on their computer at home or at work and at any time.

"In 2005, our web site committee evaluated WAFF.com from top to bottom and set out to redesign the site with consumers in mind," said Roger Scott, WAFF 48 Internet Director. "Receiving the Murrow award and the tremendous increase of visitors in the past 18 months are testaments to the success of that process."

This is the second year in a row WAFF 48 has been recognized for its work by the RTNDA. Last year WAFF 48 received a regional Edward R. Murrow award for writing based on a composite entry made by WAFF 48 Reporter, Nick Kenney.

As a regional Murrow award recipient, WAFF.com is a candidate for a national award, which will be presented in October at the RTNDA Awards Dinner in New York. RTNDA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. It has been honoring outstanding achievement in electronic journalism with the Murrow Awards since 1971.

WAFF 48 is owned by Raycom Media, Inc. , an employee-owned company. Raycom, is one of the nation's largest broadcasters and currently owns and/or operates 46 television stations in 21 states. Raycom stations cover more than 12.4 % of U.S. television households and employ 4200 individuals in full and part-time positions.

In addition to television stations, Raycom owns Raycom Sports (a marketing, production and events management and distribution company in Charlotte, North Carolina); Raycom Post (a post production facility in Burbank, CA), Broadview Media (a post production/telecommunications company based in Montgomery, AL), and CableVantage (a cable advertising sales group based in Columbia, SC).