KXAN tornado outbreak coverage a finalist in Online Journalism Awards

As the weather changes, the KXAN First Warning Weather team's dedication to serving Central Texans on digital platforms remains stronger than ever.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As the weather changes, the KXAN First Warning Weather team's dedication to serving Central Texans on digital platforms remains stronger than ever.

This week, the station was named a finalist in the 2022 Online Journalism Awards, an annual award honoring 165 finalists in topical reporting, social media engagement, and 21 other categories. KXAN placed among three finalists in the Breaking News, Small/Medium Newsroom category for its digital coverage of the March 2022 Texas Tornado outbreak.

When six tornados touched down in the KXAN viewing area on March 21, our team provided critical information through live blogs, live streams, breakout stories, and photo galleries. We kept viewers up to date before, during and after the storms. Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged during this historic outbreak, but thankfully no one in our area died.

KXAN's coverage garnered more than a million pageviews and thousands of engagements on social media, another reminder of how important it is to keep our viewers informed during these breaking events and why Central Texans gravitate toward our First Warning Weather team.

Before severe weather strikes, sign up for our daily forecast newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters. And don't forget to download the KXAN Weather app to get the latest weather forecast: Apple | Android

KXAN was previously an Online Journalism Awards finalist in 2019 in the Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Medium Newsroom category for its multiple-platform investigative series “Mayberry Texas.”