Website, reporting and photography featured
If you see News-Gazette journalists Debbie Daniel, Kristin Hurst and Taylor McFee around town capturing and chronicling the news, give them a pat on the back for a job well done.
The Osceola News-Gazette earned nine statewide journalism honors—including a record five first-place awards— at the annual Florida Press Association conference and Best Weekly Newspapers awards banquet, held Friday in Lake Buena Vista.
The News-Gazette garnered awards for each entry that was nominated, for work done in the 2025 calendar year. The paper competes among other weekly Florida newspapers with circulations of over 15,000 per week. Content judged by press associations from Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The first-place awards came in the categories of:
Feature Photo — Photographer Taylor McFee captured a winning bull riding photo at Silver Spurs Rodeo;
Investigative Reporting — Kristin Hurst’s two-part series on the impact of massage parlors raided in sex stings and the employees who were more victims than felons earned the nod;
Breaking News Coverage — Reporter Debby Daniel and editor Ken Jackson collaborated on coverage of suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez’s arrest on racketeering charges in connection with an illegal Kissimmee casino operating under his watch. Daniel and Jackson also earned second place in the category for their coverage of the Stephan Sterns plea and sentencing hearing for his role in the murder of Kissimmee teen Madeline Soto.
Sports Column — Jackson won the first-place award for second year in a row and third time since 2008 for a piece about outgoing Osceola High baseball coach and Mike Fields Distinguished Leadership Award.
Website — AroundOsceola.com earned first place for Website Excellence.
Additionally, third-place awards went to McFee in Sports Spot Photo and to the News-Gazette for Editorial Page and General Excellence, which takes into account the overall content and design of the newspaper.
News-Gazette Publisher Toni Rowan attended Friday’s awards banquet and acknowledged the Florida Press Association’s characterization of the contest as “one of the most competitive contests in the country.”
“As I saw the work being honored statewide Friday, seeing the News-Gazette among those shows how we stack up against the best in Florida,” she said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our editor and the collective efforts of our entire team. Local journalism is at the heart of what we do, and we are honored to be recognized as the best of the best in our field.”
The five first-place awards are the most earned in one year since the News-Gazette began entering the FPA Best Weekly awards under current ownership in 2022.
“Most impressive to me is that four different News-Gazette journalists won first place,” Jackson said, “And that work comes together on AroundOsceola.com to produce an award-winning website. Our fellow journalists think some of the best work in the state is produced here in Osceola County.”
