KUAC reporter Libby Casey works in the basement of the Fine Arts Complex underneath the Great Hall. Some winter days she misses the sun entirely.

Down there it is a world apart. There is a maze of connecting hallways, offices and soundproofed rooms. They can't hear the Gruening Building chimes, yet somehow Casey and the rest of the newsroom are able to keep their fingers on the pulse of Alaska.

This year Casey and KUAC garnered three regional Edward R. Murrow awards as well as a variety of Alaska Press Club honors. In April, Casey received the coveted Public Service Award, which goes to the journalist who had a story that provided the biggest service to the community.

She won with her series of pieces honoring soldiers who died in Iraq called "Remembering the Fallen."

Casey shared the award with Margaret Friedenauer of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner who wrote stories from Iraq where she was embedded with the Stryker Brigade.

Casey's stories portrayed the war through stories of loss from the perspective of the families left behind.

"I think that's the mission of a reporter," said Theresa Bakker, Libby's friend, editor and former co-worker. "They should find parts of a community that they may not know about. It's easy to find students to talk about or faculty et cetera. Military families are easy to overlook, but they're part of our community."

Press Club Judge Gary Cohen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter from the Los Angeles Times, wrote that Casey's portraits "vividly and sadly told us the stories of local servicemen killed in Iraq, breathing life into the names of those killed in action and bringing home the sad local consequences of a war being fought far away."

One of her most heart-rending reports is the story of Staff Sgt. Eugene Alex, survived by his wife Melissa and their kids.

Casey spoke with Alex when he was home and on medical leave, and they discussed his desire to return to Iraq.

"My wife gets on me that I need to slow down," Alex told Casey in November 2005, "‘cause I might end up hurting my self worse next time if I don't."

The reports mostly feature the friends and families of the fallen sharing specific memories of their loved ones. Their loss is palpable in the way their voices crack. They refer to the deceased in the present tense.

Despite the loss she dealt with on a daily basis, Casey's calm narration was able to weave together the story in an unbiased fashion, sharing tidbits about the lives of the fallen soldiers by discussing them with the people who loved them the most.

"She's an amazing writer," Bakker said. "She's good at profiling people so that you really get a sense of who they are."

To Casey reporting is about being a good listener who doesn't judge and who is willing to develop relationships with people. As a result of her style, people with different philosophies about the war were moved by her stories.

"It's important to recognize the cost of war," Casey said. "For better or for worse."

Casey is from the East Coast. She came to Alaska 11 years ago while working on her bachelor's degree at Sarah Lawrence College. Year after year she kept coming back.

"If you work hard and are enthusiastic, people up here are willing to give you a chance in a way that isn't like anywhere else," Casey said.

She has been working for KUAC for seven years. Her position as a reporter/producer is always demanding and creative.

Casey credits much of her success with being able to bounce her ideas off her co-workers Dan Bross and Sarah Neal.

In addition to her position at KUAC, Casey teaches broadcast journalism classes on campus. She sees the future of journalism as a multi-media reckoning and believes that all reporters will one day have to write, talk, shoot sills and take video in order to be successful. Maybe one day she'll get over her fear of being on TV.