DENVER—The National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®), in partnership with the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), is proud to announce winners of the 2021 Excellence in Personal Finance Reporting Awards. For nearly a decade, the awards have acknowledged outstanding consumer financial reporting across radio, television and online news platforms. This year, three journalists are recognized for their achievement in the field.
Radio: Stephannie Stokes, National Public Radio WABE-FM, Atlanta
As Property Values Rise in Atlanta, So Does the Exploitation of Black Homeowners
Stokes is a reporter for the NPR station in Atlanta, WABE, where she covers housing issues. Her work explores the racial and social inequities that influence where people live and the consequences for their families’ health, education and wealth. Her stories have aired nationally on NPR, Marketplace and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. In Atlanta, public officials have changed policies and laws in response to her reporting. Stokes has received several local, regional and national awards from organizations including the Atlanta Press Club, the Georgia Associated Press Media Editors and the Public Media Journalists Association.
Television: Chris Chmura, KNTV-TV, San Francisco Bay Area
How To: Make Savvier Financial Decisions
Chmura is the consumer investigative reporter at KNTV-TV NBC in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2016, Chmura and his team have responded to thousands of viewers’ consumer complaints and helped those viewers recover more than $5.7 million. His team is responsible for changing corporate policies, inspiring revisions to state law and relentlessly bugging countless public relations people. Prior to joining KNTV-TV, Chmura worked as consumer reporter at WTVT-TV in Tampa, Fla. He’s also an alumnus of the Associated Press, where he worked in its Washington, D.C., broadcast bureau. Chmura is a graduate of the University of Florida.
Digital/Online: Robert Powell, MarketWatch, New York
How To Pay for Healthcare Costs in Retirement
Powell, CFP®, is an award-winning personal finance journalist whose work appears in MarketWatch, USA Today, TheStreet.com, the Wall Street Journal and AARP. He is the editor and publisher of TheStreet’s Retirement Daily. Powell also serves as the co-founder of finStream.tv; the editor of the Retirement Management Journal; the host of the Exceptional Advisor podcast; and an instructor in Salem State University’s Online Elder Planning Specialist program. Previously, Powell served as the editor of Retirement Weekly and the editor of Mutual Fund Market News. He was the co-author of “Decoding Wall Street,” an investment primer published by McGraw-Hill. He and his wife are parents of four adult children and live in Swampscott, Mass.
“Our distinguished partnership with RTDNA provides the opportunity to showcase the exceptional reporting on consumer finance issues being produced across the country,” says Billy Hensley, Ph.D., president and CEO of NEFE. “The demand for thoughtful reporting on financial topics is particularly important because of the pandemic and will continue to be as we work toward recovery. We proudly celebrate these distinguished journalists for their vital work on equity and education.”
Each winner receives a $1,000 prize and a trip to Denver for the RTDNA21 conference. The RTDNA/NEFE Excellence in Personal Finance Reporting Awards are presented in connection with Money Matters, a resource developed through the partnership between NEFE and RTDNA to help journalists better cover stories about financial issues.
For a list of previous winners and more about the RTDNA/NEFE Excellence in Personal Finance Reporting Award, visit www.rtdna.org/content/nefe_award
About the Radio Television Digital News Association
RTDNA is the world’s largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTDNA represents local and network journalists in broadcasting, cable and other electronic media in more than 30 countries. For more, visit www.rtdna.org.
