Sun Sentinel wins Gold Medal for Public Service, more than a dozen awards in Florida Society of News Editors journalism awards
The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the Gold Medal for Public Service, and reporter Scott Travis received one of the most prestigious awards in Florida journalism. The honors are among more than a dozen awards obtained by the newspaper in the 2023 Florida Society of News Editors Journalism Contest.
First place in investigative reporting was for the paper’s “Innocence Sold,” a four-part series and accompanying podcast, Felonious Florida, that uncovered how state failures contribute to child sex trafficking: hotels get away with thousands of violations of an anti-trafficking law, and the state’s foster care system gives sex traffickers access to vulnerable children. The project also highlighted how victims are often treated as criminals.
The series also won the public service award.
State officials have since vowed to implement new measures to fight sex trafficking in hotels, protect victims who cooperate with law enforcement and do more to prevent trafficking of foster care youth, after the series exposed a broken system that enables the illegal trade to flourish in Florida.
In addition, reporters and photographers took home six first-place awards, which includes the Paul Hansell Award. The paper also won five second-place awards and three third-place recognitions. This year’s contest had more than 500 entries from dozens of newspapers, up slightly from last year.
Travis won the Paul Hansell Award for a series of investigative pieces, including how a school district took extraordinary steps to keep the public, and 50,000 potential victims, from learning about ransomware attacks that took place from November 2020 to March 2021. Travis shared the honor with Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel for commentary.
“It’s humbling to be recognized by FSNE for such a wide variety of work, from investigative reporting, to beat reporting, photography and opinion writing,” Sun Sentinel Managing Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant said. “Our professionals work hard, day in and day out, to serve the public with journalism that makes an impact.”
The second-place win in that category went to the reporters who worked on a series of stories about Broward’s 911 centers in crisis, including distressed callers reaching out with nobody answering the phones.
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Among the awards:
The Innocence Sold series also won first place in the category of Community Leadership.
Reporter David Lyons won first place for business reporting for a piece on the impact of Hurricane Andrew, the impact of COVID-19 on corporations and a news feature on a Ukrainian family who fled the war for Broward.
Photography staff took a first place win in covering the Parkland school shooter’s sentencing.
Three staffers, editor Mark Gauert, Cassie Armstrong and designer Anderson Greene, won first-place for the niche site “Explore Florida & the Caribbean,” and Gauert and Greene won second place for PRIME magazine.
Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet won second place for columns and also second-place in the category of editorials.
Photographer Joe Cavaretta won second place in the Spot News Photography category for his work documenting the memorial for a slain restaurant worker and also third place for Sports Photography for a swimming shot.
Photographer Mike Stocker won third place for Feature Photography for his work showcasing All-County Athletes of the Year.
Reporter Angie DiMichele and photographer Amy Beth Bennett won third-place in Breaking News for their combined efforts showcasing the harrowing damage done by Hurricane Ian, a Category 4.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash
