2018: WGCU FM wins 11 Florida AP Broadcasters awards

The WGCU FM news team has won 11 awards in the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters Awards competition for its work in 2018. This tops last year’s award total of 10.

The winning entries ranged widely in topics of interest to Southwest Florida, from politics to environmental concerns, human trafficking and immigration, to lighter topics like sports and wine.

Awarded April 13 at the Florida AP banquet at the Wyndham Orlando Resort were first and second place honors:

First place:

Best Use of Sound for Radio: Julie Glenn, “Scientists Look for a Link Between Lake Okeechobee Releases and Red Tide.”

Feature | Hard News: Rachel Iacovone, “Everglades City Family Still Living in the Backyard a Year After Hurricane Irma.”

Feature | Light News: Andrea Perdomo, “The Holidays with Wotts Mercy.”

General Assignment: Rachel Iacovone, “Children of Immigrants Join Rally After ICE Arrests in Collier County.”

Mid-Term Elections Reporter Assignment: Andrea Perdomo and Julie Glenn, “Fort Myers Native Matt Caldwell Claims Have Won Florida Agriculture Commissioner Race.”

Second place:

Breaking News: Andrea Perdomo, “Shorebirds Fall Out of The Sky on a Southwest Florida Beach”

Continuing Coverage: Julie Glenn, Rachel Iacovone and Andrea Perdomo, “Red Tide and Blue Green Algae Converge in Southwest Florida Waters”

Public Affairs: Julie Glenn, Jessica Meszaros and Rachel Iacovone, “Continuing the Conversation About Sex Trafficking Awareness Beyond the Month of January”

Weather Reporting: Rachel Iacovone, “Hurricane Michael Impacts Southwest Florida Communities”

Sports Feature: Rachel Iacovone, “Everblades’ Strong Season Ends on Home Ice”

Digital Programming: Julie Glenn and Gina Birch, “Grape Minds Podcast – Wine in a Can”

“This past year we continued what I’ll now call a tradition: a tradition of setting a standard for journalism in our community, a tradition of thoughtful and intelligent reporting, and a tradition of serving the public with NPR-grade local news,” said WGCU News Director Julie Glenn.

A generous and impactful gift from Punta Gordans Lee McGraw and Van Lupo on behalf of the Elizabeth B. McGraw Foundation in 2016 and 2017 provided the seed money to expand WGCU’s radio news show, “Gulf Coast Live,” and the news staff necessary to do so. The news staff contributes to all station reporting, making awards like these possible.

Florida Associated Press Broadcasters is a not-for-profit organization made of various television, radio and digital stations who subscribe to the services of Associated Press.