WLRN earned 14 awards in the Florida News Awards competition for journalism produced in 2021, including Overall Station of the Year – for the third time in the past four years. The Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists presented the awards at a ceremony in Orlando on Saturday.
Notable this year: Leslie Ovalle, producer of Sundial, won individual honors for best producer, and the station was a finalist in the large market TV education category for a story included in the statewide “Class of COVID-19” project.
Here’s the complete rundown of WLRN’s honors, all were in the Radio, Statewide category except “Meet one woman on a mission to find hundreds of kids, lost to their schools”:
WINNERS
Overall Station of the Year: WLRN News
Breaking News
WLRN News Team
Digital Programming
“Class of COVID-19: An education crisis for Florida’s vulnerable students”
Patricia Moynihan, WFSU; Jessica Bakeman, WLRN; the WLRN News Team; and Florida Public Media
Education Reporting, Single Story
Robbie Gaffney, WFSU; Jessica Bakeman, WLRN
Florida Public Media
Education Reporting, Series
“Jessica Bakeman on WLRN’s Education Beat”
Jessica Bakeman, WLRN
Feature Reporting, Cultural & Historical
“Finding the lost children of migrant farmworkers”
Kerry Sheridan, WUSF; Jessica Bakeman, WLRN; and Florida Public Media
Public Affairs
Tom Hudson, WLRN; Melissa Ross, WJCT; and the news teams
Individual Achievement
Producer
FINALISTS
General Assignment
”Bill signing at ‘exclusive’ political rally”
Jessica Bakeman, Daniel Rivero
WLRN
Series / Franchise, Hard News
”Class of COVID-19: An education crisis for florida’s vulnerable students”
Jessica Bakeman, News Team; and Florida Public Media
Feature Reporting, Cultural & Historical
”Her prints made Lilly Pulitzer famous”
Nancy Klingener, WLRN
Use of Sound
”For survivors of trauma at school, pandemic is one more disruption”
Caitie Switalski Munoz, Merritt Jacob, WLRN News Team; and
Florida Public Media
Political, Government, Election Reporting | Series
”Tallahassee Takeover Selections”
WLRN News Team
Television I, Large Market
Education Reporting, Single story
”Meet one woman on a mission to find hundreds of kids, lost to their schools” by
Veronica Zaragovia, Jessica Bakeman, the News Team andFlorida Public Media
Click here for the entire list of professional category honorees.