DALLAS, TX — April 26, 2021 – The Robert Riggs and the True Crime Reporter™ podcast announced today that it has been honored for Best True Crime Podcast in the 25th Annual Webby Awards.
Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet.
Peabody Award-Winning Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs created an original True Crime genre podcast based on three decades of real-life stories ripped from his reporter’s notebooks.
Riggs’ narrative style weaves interviews with the actual detectives and investigators who worked cases into a spellbinding story. In each episode, he opens up his reporter’s notebooks and his law enforcement sources open up their case files. They take listeners on a journey into darkness.
“Honorees like Robert Riggs and the True Crime Reporter™ podcast are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said Claire Graves, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,500 entries we received this year from 50 states and 70 countries.”
“We are honored to find ourselves in the company of exceptional true crime podcasts among the seven nominees which include DATELINE NBC and BBC SOUNDS,” said Riggs.
Season One of the True Crime Reporter™ Podcast titled, Free to Kill features 17-episodes about Kenneth Allen McDuff, the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in Texas history.
McDuff is the only killer to have received three death sentences. Women’s bodies started turning up one day after the former death row inmate was freed on parole under a cloud of corruption.
The news media and listeners have described the podcast as a “hair raising hit”. Big Media TV and True Crime Reporter™ are developing a true crime television series based on the podcast.
Riggs taps into a vast network of connections in federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, state and local law enforcement, and the military.
The veteran reporter is widely respected by law enforcement. Riggs is a member of the FBI’s North Texas Chapter of InfraGard, established in response to the 9/11 terror attacks. He has received honors from the Dallas Crime Commission and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award.
Riggs has also received three coveted Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Journalism Awards for Investigative Reporting — one for his coverage of Gulf War I.
The True Crime Reporter™ production team for the Webby Awards Honoree distinction consists of Robert Riggs, Host & Creator; Elizabeth Arnold, Executive Producer; Matt Stoker, Audio Producer; Seiler Burr, Producer; Grace Woodward, Producer; Blair King, Original Music; Brian David Kerr, Graphic Design; Igor Kraguljac, Photography, Tim Livingston, Public Relations; Kevin Adams, Online Marketing Strategist; and Christopher Harris of Faith Growth, Website Design & Development.
IADAS, which nominates and selects The Webby Award Winners, is comprised of Internet industry experts including Internet inventor Mozilla Chairwoman Mitchell Baker; MOMA Senior Curator Paola Antonelli; Host of NPR’s Code Switch Shereen Marisol Meraji; R/GA Global Chief Creative Officer Tiffany Rolfe; Co-Inventor of the Internet Vint Cerf; DJ and Founder, Club Quarantine D-Nice; Co-host Desus & Mero on Showtime Desus Nice; SVP of Content at Twitch Michael Aragon; Twitter Senior Director, Product Design Richard Ting; and Founders of VERZUZ Swizz Beatz and Timbaland.
Find The Webby Awards Honorees Online: