Every year, a panel of judges selects the Pell Center Rhode Island Story of the Year. The UHIP debacle was voted 2017’s top story.

Also every year, The Pell Center selects a National Story of the Year. For 2017, Pell Center director Jim Ludes and I decided to announce the winner on our Story in the Public Square TV and radio broadcasts this weekend.

We did so with a distinguished guest: Evelyn Farkas, national security analyst for NBC and former deputy assistant secretary of defense.

As you will hear, there was intense competition for the Top National Story.