The Trace and WBUR have won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for The Gun Machine, an eight-episode podcast series exploring the gun industry’s longstanding grip on the United States. 

The Murrow Awards recognize outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism and are bestowed by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), which announced this year’s winners on August 15. The Trace and WBUR, Boston’s NPR station, won for podcast in the Large Market Radio category. 

The Gun Machine looks at how a 250-year relationship between the U.S. government and the gun industry continues to underpin Americans’ interactions with firearms and the country’s failures in dealing with the fallout of gun violence.  

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The series debuted on October 4, 2023, and was hosted by Trace staff writer Alain Stephens. Kevin Sullivan, a Massachusetts-based freelance story editor, played a key role in shaping and producing the podcast. Current and former Trace staffers who worked on the series included Craig Hunter, Miles Kohrman, Gracie McKenzie, Jennifer Mascia, Mike Spies, and Agya K. Aning.  

The RTDNA will present the awards at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala at Gotham Hall in New York City on October 14. 

The Online News Association named The Trace as a 2024 finalist for Online Journalism Awards in two categories: Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Limited Series, for The Gun Machine; and Feature, Small Newsroom, for “The Lost Children of North Minneapolis,” by Selin Thomas, published in partnership with Sahan Journal. 

Alain Stephens and Champe Barton’s “Shot by a Civilian Wielding a Police Gun,” produced in partnership with CBS and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, is a finalist for the Institute for Nonprofit News’ Best Investigative Journalism and Journalism Collaboration of the Year awards. INN will announce the winners on September 18. 

Founded in 2015, The Trace remains the only news outlet dedicated to covering America’s gun violence crisis. To follow The Trace’s reporting, sign up for its newsletters here. As a nonprofit organization, The Trace relies on grants, philanthropic gifts, and reader donations to sustain its work.

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