Indiana Public Broadcasting was honored Thursday with a National Edward R. Murrow Award. The team took home the award for Excellence in Innovation for "Can you survive Indiana's legislative session? The game."
The Edward R. Murrow Awards are among the most respected journalism awards in broadcast and digital news.
The digital project turns the complex process of state lawmaking into an Oregon Trail-style game, complete with resources for Hoosiers who want to better engage in the legislative process.
It uses retro, 8-bit visuals and animations to guide users through the intricate process of how a bill becomes law in Indiana. When legislation fails, it "dies of dysentery" as it floats into a recycling bin.
Behind the game's nostalgic interface lies data-driven educational content. Lauren Chapman, Indiana Public Broadcasting’s digital editor, created the game. She built a statistical model based on hundreds of bills filed between 2019 and 2020. Random number generators reflect the actual likelihood of legislation passing through various stages of the lawmaking process.
The project has been adopted as a teaching tool by advocacy groups as well as university and high school educators.
Indiana Public Broadcasting News is a statewide collaboration of NPR and PBS stations.
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