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DENVER (KDVR) — The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) announced the national winners of the Edward R. Murrow Awards Tuesday, and KDVR was one of two Nexstar stations to win, alongside our sister station KSNW in Wichita, Kansas.

KDVR earned this award for overall excellence in Continuing Coverage for its ongoing investigation into the use of the drug ketamine by Colorado paramedics to sedate agitated individuals.

KDVR’s reporting on this issue began in 2019, after paramedics used the drug to sedate Elijah
McClain following a rough encounter with police. Although a coroner could not determine his
cause of death, the station’s reporting shined light on important issues related to how and when
the drug is used and government oversight of the drug in Colorado.

Since 2019, KDVR has filed more than 60 stories regarding the use of ketamine and brought to light several other incidents in which the use of the drug to sedate someone raised serious questions.

In 2021, the Colorado’s Governor signed a new law limiting how the drug is used across the state,
and the state health department paused its program allowing paramedics to use ketamine outside
of a hospital setting, so that new policies and oversight procedures could be put into place.

KSNW was honored for its role in telling the story of Julie Dombo, a retired teacher and race walker, who was shot during the robbery of a cell phone store in Derby, Kansas.

“We are very proud of the work done by KDVR-TV and KSNW-TV, and happy to see their efforts recognized with national Edward R. Murrow Awards for Continuing Coverage and Hard News,” said Andy Alford, President of the Broadcasting Division of Nexstar Media Inc. “We are equally proud of all of the work that Nexstar’s local news teams produce every day—as the largest local media company in the U.S., Nexstar delivers nearly 275,000 hours of trusted news programming and content that touches the daily lives of our viewers across all screens and devices. We applaud our award-winning stations and thank the RTDNA for this tremendous honor.”

Commenting on the awards, Susan Tully, SVP of Local Content Development at Nexstar Media Inc., said,
“It’s an honor to once again be recognized by RTDNA and we congratulate KDVR-TV and KSNW-TV on receiving these well-deserved honors. Nexstar’s 5,500 local broadcast journalists serve their communities with compelling, locally originated news programming and content on any screen, at any time. These awards put a spotlight on Nexstar’s commitment to innovation in storytelling, trusted broadcast journalism, exceptional public service and community involvement—a commitment our talented and dedicated journalists help us fulfill every day.”