Four Anna Maria Island Sun staff members have won 12 awards in the Florida Press Club’s 2019 Excellence in Journalism Competition.
Political cartoonist Steve Borggren swept the Editorial Cartooning category, earning 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards.
Outdoors columnist Rusty Chinnis earned 3rd place in the Environmental News category for “Elephant in the Bay,” about water quality in Sarasota Bay, and 3rd place in the Light Features category for “We’ll see,” about allowing for flexibility in plans for a fishing trip.
Digital Editor Cindy Lane won 2nd place in the Online Multimedia Package category for “Pool, beach lifeguards train together,” which included a video and photo gallery with the online story.
Lane won 2nd place in the Lucy Morgan Award for In-Depth Reporting for “County moves to regulate horses in bay,” a series on a move to ban rental horse businesses from Palma Sola Bay, and 3rd place in the “That is So …Florida” category for “Florida flotsam washes up on European beaches,” a story about four plastic cups from the Anna Maria Island Beach Café that were found in England, France, Portugal and the Azores.
Reporter Kristin Swain won 1st place in the Light Features category for “Sculpture illustrates local trash problem,” a story about a sculpture called “Trash the Turtle” by artist Wendell Graham, created from trash collected by Longboat Key Turtle Watch.
Swain also won 2nd place in the Light Features category for “Pups and owners celebrate dog park opening,” and both 2nd and 3rd place in the Community News category for “Problems plague Spring Lake residents” and “Heron nest halts construction.”
