The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced its 2025 Salute to Excellence Awards winners during its annual gala at the #NABJ25 Convention & Career Fair this past Saturday (8/23) in Cleveland.  Among the winners this year are Ann Arbor-based Michigan Public and Flint-based WJRT-TV.

Michigan Public, through News Director Vincent Duffy, announced that the station and reporter Briana Rice have been recognized in the category of Radio – Top 15 Markets for the feature story Malik Yakini and Detroit’s New Black-owned Food Co-op Aim to Build Food Sovereignty. 

“To be recognized on a national level is truly an honor,” noted Duffy. “This reporting is so important and demonstrates our ability to share stories that impact all the diverse communities we serve.”

The story focuses on Malik Yakini and his path to becoming the executive director of the Detroit Black Community Sovereignty Network, an organization that helped open the Detroit People’s Food Co-op, a new Black-led and Black-owned grocery store that opened in May of 2024. The co-op’s purpose is to provide improved access to healthy food and food education to Detroit residents. Meeting the needs of the community is achieved through the democratic control of the co-op by its members/owners.

Briana Rice is currently Outlier Media’s civic life reporter. She was previously a criminal justice reporter at Michigan Public.

Also receiving honors is WJRT-TV (Flint) in the Television – Market 16 And Below for the long-form feature History in Focus: AP African American Studies. The feature was produced by former anchor/reporter Matt Franklin and photojournalist Eric Fletcher.  The feature focuses on Carman-Ainsworth High School in Flint, which recently implemented an AP African American studies course aimed at giving students the option to explore the black experience in-depth.

Franklin spent 20 years at WJRT, his first 7 years as a reporter/anchor before moving up to Main Anchor in 2011.  He left the station this past March to become Regional Manager in the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City/Midland areas for U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin.  Fletcher has been with WJRT since 1996 and is a 5 time Regional Emmy award winner and 2 time Regional Edward R Murrow award winner.

For a complete list of winners in each category click here.