ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The Anna Maria Island Sun has earned five awards in the Florida Press Club’s 2021 Excellence in Journalism Competition, announced at a virtual ceremony on Jan. 22.
Political cartoonist Steve Borggren won first and second place in the Editorial Cartooning category for cartoons depicting the environmental fallout from the dumping of wastewater at Piney Point into Tampa Bay and the first day of school for Anna Maria Elementary School children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Sun’s 20th-anniversary issue on Dec. 30, 2020, won second place in the “Special Sections” category, highlighting stories including the demolition of the iconic pier at Manatee Beach, over-development on the Island, environmental disasters such as red tide, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Piney Point, two murders, a hurricane, a treehouse built illegally on the beach and the pandemic.
Cindy Lane won second place in the “That is So… Florida” category for a 20th-anniversary issue story compiling the quirky things that have happened on Anna Maria Island over the years, such as a mannequin being “kidnapped,” beheaded and left on the beach and Bradenton Beach mayoral candidates deciding a tie race by cutting playing cards.
The Sun’s website, amisun.com, won second place in the “Affiliated News Site” category. The site offers readers breaking news, updates on stories in between weekly print editions, more in-depth coverage of some complex stories, photo galleries of Island events, archives of past editions and easy access to beach reports and other subjects of local interest.
