WUSF News won three first place awards, including Anchor of the Year honors for All Things Considered host Lisa Peakes, at the 23rd Annual Sunshine State Awards announced Saturday night in Miami.
The Anchor of the Year category is among the top prizes in the annual competition run by the Florida Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Judges said this about Peakes: “One of the finest voices and delivery I have ever heard. Authoritative, commanding, pleasant. Perfect variety kept me engaged throughout. Model of excellence.”
WUSF’s Steve Newborn, Mary Shedden and Robin Sussingham received top honors in the Government and Politics Reporting category for their work on a series about the I-4 corridor and the 2016 presidential election. The project was a collaboration with WMFE in Orlando.
And former WUSF intern Quincy Walters won first place in the Feature Reporting category for his story about a former circus showman living in Gibsonton.
The news team earned three additional awards in the radio and online journalism divisions that honored work done in 2016:
Morning Edition host Carson Cooper won second place in the Newscast category.
Health News Florida, a statewide health journalism project that includes the work of editor Julio Ochoa, reporter Daylina Miller and special correspondent Carol Gentry, earned third place among news websites. The project is a collaboration with WLRN in Miami and WMFE in Orlando.
And in the Public Affairs category, WUSF reporters contributing to the Florida Matters: Public Art Around Tampa Bay received third place honors. That team included: Robin Sussingham, Cathy Carter, Marc Haze, Daylina Miller and Lisa Peakes.
