WFSU Public Media is the recipient of seven awards from the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists (FABJ) for the station’s outstanding work for the 2022 calendar year. The accolades follow WFSU’s ambitious efforts in rebalancing its news and tv departments to increase local and regional coverage.
“We always strive to connect to our community through the high-quality content we create but our work this past year has been even more compelling and in-depth than ever before,” said David Mullins, WFSU Public Media General Manager.
Approximately 55 radio and television stations across the state submitted more than 650 entries to this year’s contest. WFSU won three awards in the Television Small Market Category for stories that appeared on the broadcast TV and digital magazine program Local Routes.
· General Assignment: Long- “SURF DOG: A GONE DOG NO MORE” by Mike Plummer
· Feature: Light- “PROPAGATING JOY: FINDING LOVE IN DISCARDED NATURE” by Rob Diaz de Villegas
· Feature: Cultural/Historical- “AN INVITATION TO THE PARTY WITH THE TALLAHASSEE BALLET” by Rheannah Wynter
WFSU’s Podcast Series NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE: A COMMUNITY’S DIVIDED HISTORY by the WFSU News Team was a finalist in the Digital Programming category. The series explored Tallahassee’s intricate racial past across the topics of education, religion, history, language, ecology, and more. Episodes were produced by News Director Lynn Hatter; Assignment Editor/Senior Producer Regan McCarthy; Morning Edition Host/Producer Gina Jordan; All Things Considered Host/Reporter Valerie Crowder; and Ecology Producer Rob Diaz de Villegas. TV Executive Producer Suzanne Smith, and Director of Digital Patricia Moynihan served as editors.
“These are not two-sided stories; they are multifaceted and deeply complex issues,” said Hatter. “There are no solutions in these episodes. These podcasts are a starting point for understanding and, hopefully, the beginning of a long conversation. I believe that we can’t connect with each other, and we can’t move forward together until we take an unflinching look at where we stand and how we got here. That’s what we tried to do with this project.”
Three members of WFSU’s News Team also finished as finalists in the statewide radio categories:
· Politics/Government: Single- “DEMOCRATS KNOW THEY CAN’T STOP BILLS CURBING LGBTQ AND RACIAL JUSTICE TEACHING, BUT THEY’LL MAKE IT HARD FOR REPUBLICANS TO PASS THEM” by Lynn Hatter
· Series/Franchise: Light- “THE SHOW MUST GO ON! TALLAHASSEE ARTISTS BOUNCE BACK FROM PANDEMIC LOWS” by Gina Jordan
· General Assignment: Long- “THE TALLAHASSEE MAYOR AND HIS OPPONENTS CLASH OVER PRIVATE MEETINGS AT HIS HOUSE” by Margie Menzel
“We are committed to telling the unique and important stories of our community,” says Kim Kelling, Director of Content and Community Partnerships. “These awards recognize the work across our creative teams as WFSU strives to provide audiences quality, non-biased content that our audiences can trust.”
The NABJ awards ceremony was held Saturday, April 22, 2023, in Orlando. A full list of award winners can be found here.