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A pair of 2025 BirminghamWatch contributors were award winners during the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest, held Saturday during the NFPW’s national convention at Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Olivia McMurrey, now a staffer with public radio station WBHM, claimed seven awards, including three for work she did for BirminghamWatch. She earned third place in Specialty Articles, Social Isssues, for “Reimagined Park to Open Nature to All on Birmingham’s East Side.” McMurrey earned honorable mention for a pair of her BirminghamWatch efforts — Writing of Continuing Coverage or Unfolding News for her stories on Central Alabama Water’s Lake Purdy Dam, and Specialty Articles, Arts and Entertainment, for “Federal Arts Funding Cuts Hamper Birmingham-Area Events, Programs.”
McMurrey earned three awards for radio reports she did for WBHM, one second-place and two third-place awards on inmate issues, working conditions and AI effects. Her final award was for a story she co-wrote with Inside Climate News reporter Lee Hedgepeth, also a BirminghamWatch alum, on heat in football stadiums.
BirminghamWatch contributor Solomon Crenshaw Jr. was recognized for a story he wrote for The Birmingham Times. He was third in Specialty Articles, Sports, for “‘It’s All Love’: Meet the Birmingham High School Teammates Turned Magic City Classic Rivals.”
