Health News Florida has been honored with the 2016 national Edward R. Murrow award for “Best Small Online News Organization Website” for audio for its statewide multimedia and broadcast collaboration project.
WUSF Public Media in Tampa shares the honor with WLRN in Miami and WMFE in Orlando, which joined Health News Florida in 2013.
The national Murrow award is considered one of the most prestigious honors in the broadcast and multimedia industry. It is presented by the Radio and Television Digital News Association, which has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism since 1971. The awards are named after legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, who is widely recognized as one of broadcast journalism’s seminal figures.
“The Health News Florida project demonstrates an essential service that WUSF provides to listeners on perhaps the most vital topic possible – their health,” said WUSF General Manager JoAnn Urofsky. “My congratulations to the team across the state of Florida for their excellence in reporting.”
This year’s award recognizes Health News Florida for original reporting projects such as a project looking at HIV in Florida, a series looking at poor Floridians caught in the Medicaid Gap and the staff’s ongoing coverage of statewide health care policies.
This award follows other recent recognitions for Health News Florida, including regional Murrow Awards for the site and in the news documentary division; and three awards from the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
Carol Gentry, a veteran health journalist, created Health News Florida a decade ago as an independent health news organization, at a time when the number of health journalists in the state was dwindling and those in power were not being held accountable.
It was acquired by WUSF in 2012 and quickly expanded to the collaboration with partner public broadcasters WLRN and WMFE in 2013 as part of a grant with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
