Observer wins 61 awards at newspaper contest

Six newspapers in the Observer Media Group garnered 61 total awards, including 24 first-place finishes, at the 2013 Florida Press Association Better Weekly Newspaper contest held July 10 to July 11, at the Biltmore in Coral Gables.

The Observer’s newspapers entered into the contest included the East County Observer, Sarasota Observer, Longboat Observer, Palm Coast Observer, Business Observer and the West Orange Times.

The Sarasota Observer won the sweepstakes cup for the most number of awards in its category of a weekly circulation of 15,000 or more. In addition, the Palm Coast Observer (15,000 or more) and the Longboat Observer (7,000 to 15,000) won first place in the general excellence category. In addition, Observer newspapers swept the category for special issue section or supplement (circulation more than 15,000) for the East County Observer’s Football Preview, the Observer’s SEASON magazine and the Observer’s Spirit of America. It also swept the category for multimedia storytelling for circulation more than 15,000.

WINNERS

In total, the Longboat Observer (circulation 7,000 to 15,000) claimed 11 awards:

General excellence, First place

Editorial page, First place — Matt Walsh, “Tax plan needs more vetting” and “Right ideas, faulty methods”

Breaking news story, First place — The Longboat Observer (Robin Hartill and Alex Mahadevan) — “Anders Ebbeson dies in reported suicide Tuesday morning in Sarasota”

Overall graphic design, First place — Nancy Schwartz

Best obituary, First place — Robin Hartill, “Hazan’s key ingredient: simplicity”

Local government reporting, Second place — Robin Hartill, “Employees seek DROP benefit”

Agricultural and environmental, Second place — Robin Hartill, “Turtles swim the globe before returning home” 

Community history, Second place — Robin Hartill, “The ghost hotel”

Faith and family reporting, Third place — Robin Hartill, “Thanksgivukkah: Gobble tov”

Business reporting, Third place — Robin Hartill, “Closing Time”

Front page make-up, Third place — Nancy Schwartz