Unfortunately, this award is bittersweet. Julieta Martinelli was on staff at Nashville Public Radio just long enough to make us big fans of her work before she got another gig. In July, the reporter announced she’d been named a 2018 Soros Justice Media Fellow. For the next year, she said, she’ll be reporting on children separated from their parents, the policies that separate, or seek to reunify them, and the long-term effects of immigration-based separation. But during her brief time at WPLN, she managed to do vital reporting, including stories of family separation and her coverage of Matthew Charles, a man who was released from prison after 35 years, but sent back by a higher court after two years of freedom — the latter of which rightly went viral. STEVEN HALE
Best New Voice on the Radio
Julieta Martinelli
Julieta Martinelli Photo: Eric England
