The Jacksonville Record & Observer, published each week last year by Jacksonville Daily Record in print and JaxDailyRecord.com, received 13 awards in the 2022 Florida Press Association Weekly Newspaper Contest.
The awards, which honor work from 2021, were presented Aug. 5 in a ceremony at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra.
“It’s an honor to earn the respect of the Florida Press Association judges, who recognized the Jacksonville Daily Record with 13 awards for our work in 2021,” Editor Karen Brune Mathis said.
“We strive to adhere to the association’s mission and purposes, including the promotion and encouragement of higher standards of journalism to the benefit of the industry and the public.”
JDR journalists won six first-place, three second-place and three third-place honors along with the Gwen Stevenson Memorial Award.
• Associate Editor Mike Mendenhall won two first-place and two third-place awards. He also won the Gwen Stevenson Memorial Award.
Mendenhall won first place in General News for “Lot J is dead” about the end of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ effort to build an entertainment center adjacent to TIAA Bank Field. That story also won the Gwen Stevenson Memorial Award.
He won first place in Local Government Reporting for “Lawmakers encouraged by Shipyards proposal” about the redevelopment effort along the Northbank Riverwalk.
Mendenhall won third place in Breaking News Story for “$1.1 billion plan for Downtown Riverfront,” about the plan to transform the Downtown Northbank.
He won third place for Online Breaking News Coverage for “City Council approves $114 million incentives deal for Khan’s Four Seasons development.”
• Editor Karen Brune Mathis won first place in Business Reporting for “The inside story of the Firehouse Subs $1 billion deal.” She won third place in Feature Story for “Your integrity is all you’ve got” about retiring real estate executive John Carey.
• Associate Editor Max Marbut won first place in Education Feature for “They’re open for business,” about area universities rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic.
• Former Record & Observer Staff Writer Katie Garwood won second place in Health, Medical & Science Reporting for “John Catanzaro: Making life safer for defibrillator users.”
Garwood also won second place in the Best Obituary category for “Arnold Tritt’s NEFBA legacy.”
Garwood is now a communications specialist at Jacksonville University.
• Managing Editor Monty Zickuhr won first place for Informational Graphic for “What CEOs Make” and for Front Page Makeup.
Zickuhr also won second place for Page Design.
“Our team focuses daily on researching and reporting the facts and profiling the people in Northeast Florida business, government, health care, commercial and industrial development, public and private companies, higher education, real estate, law and the courts,” Mathis said. “It’s our job and we take it seriously.”