CSUMB's station honored for excellence in electronic journalism

Krista Almanzan, news director of KAZU, has won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in electronic journalism. The awards are given by the Radio, Television, Digital News Association.

She took the top awards for:

• Hard news reporting for her story “Labor Shortage Hastens Push for Immigration Reform” that aired last July

• Use of sound for her story “Salinas Playground Designed to Bring Kids of All Abilities Together” that aired in September

Both stories advance to the national competition in May.

KAZU competes in the small market category against similar-size stations in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Guam. It has won Murrow Awards every year since 2010.

Almanzan started her journalism career in Iowa, where she covered the 2000 and 2004 presidential races and Iowa caucuses for local television stations. In 2005, she returned to her home state of California where she continued to work in television and simultaneously got her start in public radio as a freelance reporter for Capital Public Radio in Sacramento. In 2007, she joined the staff at KAZU, where she serves as news director as well as host of All Things Considered.

KAZU 90.3 FM – NPR for the Monterey Bay Area – is a community service of California State University, Monterey Bay.