CBS, HBO, Netflix among 2018 duPont-Columbia award winners

A mixture of legacy journalism and new media with emerging platforms were among the 16 winners of the 2018 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honored for their work in broadcast, digital and documentary journalism.

The awards were announced by Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism on Thursday.

"At a challenging time for the news media," said Jury Chair Cheryl Gould. "We were gratified to see both new platforms strengthen their journalism muscles and traditional outlets maintain their vigorous reporting standards."

Audio and video journalists were recognized with offerings as broadcasts and podcasts. "This American Life" won for its coverage of the split within the Republican Party and Reveal for its human rights reporting in Russia. The New York Times podcast "The Daily" also was honored.

Awards went to media newcomer Netflix and filmmaker Ava Du Vernay for the feature-length documentary "13" and to Hollywood filmmaker John Ridley's partnership with ABC News on the documentary "Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992."

CBS News won two awards, one for its Syrian war coverage of veteran correspondent Elizabeth Palmer and the other for a two-part "60 Minutes" report from inside the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

PBS picked up wins for the "Frontline" documentary "Exodus," which traces the route of refugees into Europe, and for WORLD Channel's "America ReFramed: Class of '27," a look at the benefits of early education.

Cable outlets also were represented: "HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" for its investigation into the International Olympic Committee and National Geographic Documentary Films for "Hell on Earth: the Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS."

Five local television stations were honored for investigative reporting: ABC15 Arizona for exposing abuse of the American Disabilities Act; KARE 11 for three hard-hitting investigative stories; KHOU-TV for revealing Houston's wasteful police body camera program; KNTV for chronicling the misuse of school police officers to discipline students; and WITI-TV for challenging public opinion about laws intended to safeguard children but that may put them at greater risk.

The awards ceremony, co-hosted by "CBS This Morning" host Gayle King and CNN anchor Jake Tapper, will be at Columbia on Jan. 16.