Last week, The Beacon joined some of the country’s most accomplished news organizations in New York City for the national Edward R. Murrow Awards. We were there to celebrate our first Murrow Award, earned in partnership with KBIA for our investigative series Dumped in Berger. It was an exciting milestone for our relatively young newsroom, and one that gave us plenty of reasons to be proud of what we’ve built.

Our three-part investigation, Dumped in Berger, won for investigative reporting in the Small Market Radio category, placing our work alongside some of the best journalism produced in the country. For a relatively young nonprofit newsroom, that’s a significant accomplishment, and it  reflects years of work to build the reporting capacity, editorial leadership and partnerships necessary to pursue ambitious stories.

It’s also a powerful example of what philanthropic investment in journalism can make possible. Arnold Ventures supported The Beacon’s statewide investigative and accountability reporting, helping us build the capacity for work that goes beyond the daily news cycle. That support helped make it possible for Ceilidh Kern, our Missouri statehouse reporter at the time, to spend months pursuing an investigation that ultimately earned national recognition.

The investigation examined how more than 13 million pounds of hazardous sandblasting material traveled more than 500 miles from Mississippi to a warehouse near Berger, Missouri, where it remained for five years. The reporting revealed how residents, children, people experiencing homelessness and even local officials entered the building without knowing the dust contained hazardous heavy metals, including lead, chromium and cadmium. The series also traced how taxpayers ultimately paid millions of dollars to clean up the site.

Ceilidh pursued the story during the months when the Missouri legislature wasn’t in session. 

She partnered with Harshawn Ratanpal, then an environment and agriculture reporter for KBIA, the NPR-member public radio station based at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. Together, they spent six months digging through records, interviewing sources and untangling the decisions that allowed the situation to unfold. At one point, they received 11 pounds of documents from a source!

That kind of sustained investigation is difficult for any newsroom to undertake, particularly when the potential audience or financial return isn’t obvious. We don’t always choose stories based on which ones will attract the most eyeballs or make the strongest business case. Sometimes the reporting is simply too important not to pursue, and I’m glad our team recognized that and made room for this investigation.

That’s why flexible philanthropic support matters so much. It allows us to invest in talented journalists, give them the time to follow complicated stories and build the partnerships that make their reporting stronger. Arnold Ventures’ investment didn’t dictate what Ceilidh would find or where the investigation would lead. It helped create the conditions for independent journalism to happen.

Our partnership with KBIA multiplied that investment. The Beacon contributed reporting time, editing and graphics support, while KBIA brought additional reporting, editing and audio production expertise. It’s a terrific example of how two newsrooms can accomplish more together than either could alone.

The awards ceremony was quite an experience. As a longtime Today show fan, I loved seeing Vicky Nguyen help host, and it was exciting to see Terry Gross, whose voice is so familiar to NPR listeners, and Kristen Welker of Meet the Press honored. We sat next to journalists from Al Jazeera, made new friends from Reveal and caught up with colleagues at Grist and Mississippi Today. Throughout the evening, we heard about remarkable reporting on some of the most difficult issues facing our world. There was so much talent in that room, and so much important work being done.

There were sobering reminders of the industry’s challenges, too. Former CBS News Radio journalists accepted an award for overall excellence after their newsroom had been shut down, with some holding signs reading “Fired for Overall Excellence.” The room gave them a standing ovation. It was a striking moment, and a reminder that even exceptional journalism doesn’t guarantee the resources to sustain it.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to celebrate with the reporters on the story, Ceilidh and Harshawn. It was wonderful to reconnect with Kyle Felling, KBIA’s general manager, and recognize the larger team effort behind the investigation. There was something particularly satisfying about seeing two relatively small newsrooms recognized for what we accomplished together.

I came away from the evening especially proud of what we’re building at The Beacon. We’ve spent the past several years strengthening our newsroom, developing collaborations and making deliberate investments in reporting that serves the public, even when the business case isn’t immediately apparent. National recognition like this validates both the quality of the journalism and the strategy behind making it possible. I’ve always believed our reporters can go head-to-head with the best journalists anywhere, and this was a pretty wonderful affirmation of that.

And the award comes at a time when we’re building on that progress. With new investments in Kansas City Hall and Wyandotte County reporting, and plans to deepen our presence in eastern Jackson County, we’re expanding our capacity to deliver sustained accountability journalism in communities that need it. Each of these investments reflects the same approach: Identify important gaps in local reporting, build the capacity to address them and give journalists the support to do the work well.

The Beacon is gaining momentum, and I’m grateful to the funders, partners, board members and readers who have helped make it possible. This award belongs to the journalists who did the work, but it’s also a reflection of what we’ve built together and the kind of journalism we’re increasingly able to produce.

I’m not always the best at stopping to celebrate milestones. I’m usually thinking about what we need to build next, how we can strengthen our capacity and where we’ll find the resources to make it happen. There’s always more to do. But this was one of those moments worth stopping for, taking it all in and appreciating just how far we’ve come.

Read the award-winning three-part investigation: Dumped in Berger