The Jacksonville Record & Observer was honored with seven awards in the annual Florida Press Association 2020 Weekly Newspaper Contest.
The awards were announced in a virtual ceremony July 31. The paper competes in Division B against similar-size publications statewide.
Editor Karen Brune Mathis, Associate Editor Max Marbut and Managing Editor Monty Zickuhr received first-place awards. Staff Writer Mike Mendenhall won two second-place awards and the staff won two awards.
Here are the first-place categories:
Business Reporting: Mathis for “How they sold Maple Street” about the sale of Jacksonville-based Maple Street Biscuit Co. to Cracker Barrel.
Education Feature: Marbut for “Building the Workforce” about how Edward Waters College, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida are working to fill the area’s talent pipeline.
Front Page Makeup: Zickuhr for pages including “51 candidates, 19 seats” previewing the Jacksonville City Council election.
The second-place winners:
Breaking News Story: Mendenhall for “City, Khan reach deal on Lot J development” on the plans to redevelop the area near TIAA Bank Field.
Local Government Reporting: Mendenhall for “JEA: What’s Next” about issues in the city-owned utility.
In the overall categories, the Record & Observer won second place for Overall Graphic Design and third place for General Excellence.
The Record & Observer is part of Observer Media Group, which won a total of 84 awards in the contest including 29 first-place honors.