Human Interest

WGCU collects four awards from Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists

WGCU | By WGCU Staff

Published April 16, 2025 at 1:38 PM EDT

Bird watching at Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. (left to right) Em Kless, Ryan Young. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation was given special permission to explore this section of the Sanctuary, which is normally closed to visitors. — The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in eastern Collier County (a key part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor). WGCU was awarded as co-winner in the environmental reporting category by the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists for a 2024 collaborative effort reporting on the Florida Corridor with Central Florida Public Media, Oviedo Community News, and the Florida Trident.

WGCU reporters and videographers were awarded by the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists recently for story entries dealing with the environment and sports. Above, from left, Amanda Inscore-Whittamore, multimedia reporter, Mike Braun, managing editor, and Eddie Stewart, reporter.

WGCU reporters and videographers were awarded by the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists for story entries dealing with the environment and sports.

The organization held its 2024 awards ceremony recently in Orlando.

The mission of the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists is to support and inspire creative and impactful storytelling with the purpose of showing the critical importance journalism has in the State of Florida. FABJ carries out its mission by producing opportunities to showcase and honor excellence in broadcast journalism, as well as programming, to provide professional development for journalists of all skill levels and experience levels.

Winning entries from WGCU included:

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING

“Preserve or Develop? The Race Against Time to Protect Florida's Wildlife Corridor.”

This was a collaborative effort between Central Florida Public Media, Oviedo Community News, the Florida Trident, and WGCU. WGCU staffers who were part of the effort included reporters Eileen Kelley and Tom Bayles, multimedia journalists Amanda Inscore-Whittamore and Andrea Melendez, and managing editor Mike Braun.

USE OF SOUND

“2024 U.S. Open Pickleball Championships”

Multimedia journalist Amanda Inscore-Whittamore covered the championships in Naples. Her use of sound in a video report captured the top award.

FINALISTS

Former WGCU staff member Tara Calligan's series "Forgotten Park," on the Ortona Indian Mound Park in Glades County, was a finalist in the category SERIES / FRANCHISE REPORTING | LIGHT.

2024 COLLEGE CONTEST RESULTS

Taylor Hancock holds a frog he found during the FrogWatch count on the FGCU campus on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Fort Myers. FrogWatch USA is a citizen science program where volunteers report on the calls of local frogs and toads.

In the category of environmental reporting for college radio, graduating senior Eddie Stewart and multimedia journalist Amanda Inscore-Whittamore took top prize for ”Frog Watch.” The story was an audio and video report on volunteers and others in a Florida Gulf Coast University program that studies frogs in the local environment.

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