Andres Davila | News Director
PantherNOW captured awards for the six nominations received at this year’s Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine State Awards, which took place on Aug. 25 at ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale.
The awards are as follows:
- Third Place for Best Student Publication; August, November and December print editions
- Second Place for Best News Photo; Samuel Larreal, Woman protests on Calle Ocho outside FIU after reversal of Roe v. Wade
- Second Place for Best Review; Thomas Marin, “The House of Bernarda Alba” – Review
- Third Place for Best Sports Photo; Adrian Valdivia, David Garcia lifts the AAC Tournament trophy after beating USF and clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
- Second Place for Best Opinion Column; Alba Rosa, The social impact immigrants have on Miami culture
- Third Place for Best Front Design; December 2022 Front Page
With a new staff, this year’s awards represented the standards PantherNOW demonstrates towards the importance of student journalism.
Elise Gregg, editor-in-chief of PantherNOW, expressed what it means for the newspaper when commenting about the awards.
“For PantherNOW, these wins are another demonstration of the excellence we strive for as student media,” said Gregg. “Our staff, while often working other jobs and going to school, work tirelessly to display the same levels of professionalism and dedication that other news outlets do. For both organization awards and individual writer awards, we’re honored by the recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists Florida Chapter.”
Alba Rosa, opinion director of PantherNOW, who won second place for Best Opinion Column at the awards ceremony, felt the same.
“To get second place at a prestigious award ceremony is something I’ll forever cherish, especially since I got here because of PantherNOW,” she said. “These wins for PantherNOW means that we have potential and our hard work means something to the community, but we can definitely aim for higher.”
Even though PantherNOW did not receive the same awards as last year, Gregg has ambition for this upcoming academic year.
“[W]e have another year to look forward to in striving for excellence and to serve our student body to the best of our abilities. But, this year’s nominations and awards have given us some insight into what we can do better and how we can best serve our readers,” she said.
“Our goal remains to give students, faculty and staff at FIU the news they need to connect with one another and know what’s going at FIU.”
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