2 Washington journalists receive IEEE-USA Engineering Journalism Awards

IEEE-USA honored two Washington journalists Wednesday who have added to greater public understanding of the contributions of engineers and computer professionals to society.

Holly Morris, a live reporter for Washington's FOX 5 Morning News; and Randy Atkins, senior program officer for media/public relations at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), shared the IEEE-USA Award for Literary Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession. Their awards include a $1,500 honorarium.

Morris, who has a degree in civil and environmental engineering, was recognized for her live coverage of last year's National Engineers Week Future City Competition National Finals. She has served as co-emcee of the February 2009 and 2010 events and provided reports for FOX 5 television and Internet viewers.

To see Morris' reports highlighting Discover Engineering Family Day, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/eweek/default.asp.

Atkins was honored for his Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series on Washington's WTOP FM and Federal News Radio, WFED AM. These one-minute weekly features highlight engineering innovations and stories that add technical context to issues in the news. Before joining NAE, he was a producer and reporter of the nationally distributed Inside Science TV News and an on-air reporter for NBC network affiliate WVVA TV in Bluefield, W.Va. Earlier in his career, he worked as a microbiologist at the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Agriculture.

Atkins' stories, archived to 2003, are accessible at http://www.nae.edu/radio.

The awards were presented during a luncheon at Washington's Restaurant Nora.

Provided by IEEE-USA