Post staffers win state honors
Immigration, disaster reporting among paper’s 1st-place titles.
CORAL GABLES — Palm Beach Post staff writers were finalists in 15 categories and earned six first-place honors Saturday evening at the 2018 Sunshine State Awards ceremony at the University of Miami.
The awards are presented by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Florida chapter and drew more than 1,000 entries from the across the state in print, broadcast and digital media in both English and Spanish.
Post staff writers Mike Stucka and Eliot Kleinberg placed first in the First Amendment Foundation Freedom of Information Award for their “scorecard” on state legislators’ votes on public recordsandpublic meetingsbills.
The Palm Beach Post staff was a finalist in disaster reporting for coverage of Hurricane Irma.
In reporting on hardship issues, staffers took two of the three top spots. Olivia Hitchcock, Sonja Isger, Wayne Washington and Jeff Ostrowski placed first for coverage on the local impact of the national immigration debate. And Christine Stapletonplaced third
for coverage of the Gratitude House drug treatment center.
The immigration coverage also earned that reporting team a second place in minority issues reporting.
Southern Palm Beach County reporter Lulu Ramadan was a finalist in the “outstanding new journalist” category. Ramadan also placed third in non-deadline news reporting for her detailing of the scandal surrounding Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie. That coverage also earned Ramadan second place in government and politics reporting.
Election honor
In state and local election reporting, the team of Ramadan, Alexandra Seltzer, and former Post staffers Lawrence Mower and Justin Price placed first for their story that showed candidates helped voters fill out absentee ballots.
In feature reporting, Pat Beall — who was the Sunshine State Awards’ 2017 “Journalist of the Year” — placed first for “A World with No Floor,” her first-person account of her own sexual abuse as a child.
Editor of the Editorial Page Rick Christie placed second in overall editorial writing. Staff writers Joe Capozzi and Andrew Marra placed first for community reporting, and second in education reporting, respectively.
Accent writer Leslie Streeter placed first in arts commentary and criticism.
Photography awards
In feature photography, staff photographer Lannis Waters earned third place for his series of sunrise photos. Photographer Melanie Bell of The Post’s sister newspaper, The Palm Beach Daily News, came in first.