Florida Weekly is best in the state, again

RADDATZ For the third consecutive year, Florida Weekly has been named the most outstanding weekly newspaper in the state, racking up 15 journalism awards at the Florida Press Association conference at the 2012 Southeastern Press Convention in Destin.

In addition to the top award for weekly newspapers with circulation above 15,000, Florida Weekly writers, designers and editors won eight first-place, two secondplace and four third-place awards.

Writer Roger Williams won the prestigious Jon A. Roosenraad Award for defense of the first amendment for his in-depth look at what government records are available to the public. He also won second place for business writing. Writer Bill Cornwell won the Gwen Stevenson Memorial Award for best news story in the state for the second consecutive year.

“Winning this award three years in a row is a tribute to the dedication to quality journalism of our writers, editors and designers,” said Florida Weekly Executive Editor Jeffrey Cull. “Our staff works tirelessly on every edition of Florida Weekly with one goal: To connect with our more than 170,000 readers.”

Presentation Editor Eric Raddatz won three awards, including his fourth consecutive first-place award for frontpage design. Arts writer Nancy Stetson won her second consecutive first-place award for her theater reviews.

In addition to the individual awards, the editors and staff won for best special section, “Destination Southwest Florida,” and community service for the annual breast cancer awareness issue, commonly called the “pink paper.”

Florida Weekly is locally owned and publishes newspapers in Greater Fort Myers, Greater Naples, Bonita Springs, Charlotte County, Palm Beach County and Brevard County with a combined circulation of more than 80,000.

STETSON The Florida Press Association’s Better Weekly Newspaper Awards are open to monthly, semimonthly, weekly, semiweekly, and triweekly newspaper members.

A complete list of Florida Weekly award winners:

First Place (Circulation over 15,000)

¦ Best Overall: Florida Weekly

¦ Front Page Makeup: Eric Raddatz

¦ Informational Graphic: Eric Raddatz, for “Cuba’s Oil Plans”

¦ Sports Feature Story: Bill Cornwell, for “Fourth and Long”

¦ Special section: Staff, for “Destination Southwest Florida”

¦ Arts, Entertainment and Review Reporting: Nancy Stetson, for “Color Queen”

WILLIAMS ¦ Feature story: Bill Cornwell, for “Better than Fiction”

¦ General News Story (Gwen Stevenson Memorial Award): Bill Cornwell, for “Cuba’s Oil Plan”

¦ First Amendment Defense (Jon A. Roosenraad Award): Roger Williams, for “Unlock Public Docs”

Second place

¦ Business Reporting: Roger Williams, for “The State of our Real Estate”

¦ Arts, Entertainment and Review Reporting: Karen Feldman, for “Favorite among local foodies”

Third place

¦ Overall Graphic Design: staff

¦ Best Obituary: Evan Williams, for “The Lives They Led”

¦ Feature Story: Non-Profile: Bill Cornwell, for “A Ride to Ruin?”

¦ Community Service: Staff, for “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” ¦