Roanoke's NBC affiliate, WSLS (Channel 10), has won a Peabody Award for its coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.

The winning segment collected the station's first response to the shooting and aired April 16 and 17, 2007. Judges applauded the six-hour entry, "Virginia Tech Shootings: The First 48 Hours," for "two intense days of live, exhaustive and remarkably calm coverage of the April 16 killing spree."

The Peabodys, a prestigious award for broadcast and cable media, went to 35 recipients this year.

Winners included "The Colbert Report," the cable-news show on Comedy Central and "Wounds of War -- The Long Road Home for Our Nation's Veterans," a series by ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff about the struggles of veterans dealing with severe war injuries and stress.

"We're honored and humbled," Melissa Preas, WSLS news director, said of the station capturing its first Peabody.

She added that the newsroom staff includes more than a dozen Tech graduates, who functioned in the face of "overwhelming grief, stress, anger and disbelief."

John Carlin, who anchored much of the coverage, received the phone call from the award board Wednesday morning.

Winners are selected by committees from the University of Georgia whose single criterion, their mission states, is excellence.

An award ceremony will be held June 16 in New York City.