The Osceola News-Gazette received eight awards, including two firstplace honors, at the Florida Press Association annual Best Weekly Newspaper awards banquet Friday in Sarasota.
The awards honor work published during 2022.
The first-place awards, earned in Circulation Group A, among weekly papers with over 15,000 circulation, came in the categories of Online Breaking News and Education Feature.
Editor Ken Jackson and Production Manager Angelique Priore teamed up to provide online coverage, photos and graphics at AroundOsceola.com in near real time of the murder trial of Celebration man Anthony Todt, who was found guilty of killing his wife, children and family dog in late 2019. Jackson also brought home first place for a feature on a group of NeoCity Academy students whose science experiments about how light travels in zero gravity went aboard a Blue Origin rocket launch out of Texas.
For the second year in a row, the paper also earned FPA’s third place award for General Excellence, a category based on the overall presentation of the entire newspaper.
Among the other writing awards, Jackson was runner-up for the Sally Latham Memorial Award for Serious Column, earning second place for a piece written on the fiveyear anniversary of the line-of-duty shooting deaths of the Kissimmee Police Department’s Sgt. Sam Howard and Officer Matthew Baxter. He won second place in Local Government Reporting for a piece on the history of the property now home to the NeoCity microchip manufacturing farm, and third place in Sports Column for a story on Osceola High’s state semifinal football game against Lakeland High, and its historical significance.
Freelance sports reporter J. Daniel Pearson won second place for Sports Page or Section, and third place in Sports Spot News Story for a piece detailing the departure of longtime Osceola High wrestling coach and Athletic Director Jim Bird.
The entries were judged by fellow press associations in other states.
“These awards show the importance of local journalism in our community, and that it stacks up against the best in Florida according to our peers in the industry,” News-Gazette Owner/Publisher Rochelle Stidham said.
