Ocala Star-Banner wins 4 awards in annual Florida Society of News Editors contest

The Ocala Star-Banner has won four awards, including one first-place award, in the annual Florida Society of News Editors contest.

The Star-Banner competes in Division C, for news organizations whose websites have fewer than 1 million average monthly unique visitors. The awards, for work published during 2021, were distributed Thursday during the society's annual conference.

Staff photographer Doug Engle won first place in sports photography for a collection of photos.

Engle also won second place for breaking news video for "Riding Out Tropical Storm Elsa" and second place for feature photography for his coverage of a vigil for Javariy Wilson, a 14-year-old Ocala boy who was killed in a vehicle crash.

Engle and staff writer Danielle Johnson won third place in the breaking news category for their coverage of the sudden death of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit.

Day 1 coverage: 'We'll never get to know just how good he was': Kentucky Derby champ Medina Spirit dies

Day 2 coverage: Vets, Marion horse experts urge patience as Medina Spirit death investigated

Photos: Breeder and trainer of Medina Spirit talk about the horse, which died on Monday

The Star-Banner is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, which is comprised of 19 daily newspapers. In total, the USA TODAY NETWORK won 80 awards, including two gold medals and 27 first-place awards. The network’s newspapers also won 24 second-place awards and 27 third place awards.

This story includes information from the Tallahassee Democrat

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Star-Banner in Ocala, Florida wins 4 awards in state journalism contest