2016 Reporters’ Workshop and Florida Bar Media Awards Photos

2016 Reporters’ Workshop Photos

Twenty-three reporters from across Florida participated in the 2016 Reporters’ Workshop, held Sept. 19-20. Reporters took part in engaging sessions backed up by materials supplied by the attorneys and journalists participating. A high point is always the dinner with participants and Supreme Court justices.

Tradition says that, after breakfast on the first day, participants in the annual Florida Bar Reporters’ Workshop must pose for a team photo on the steps of the Florida Supreme Court.

Florida Bar President William J. Schifino, Jr. spoke with the reporters about constitutional revision, during a Benchmarks presentation with Annette Boyd Pitts.

Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente talked about judicial merit retention, drawing on her personal experiences in 2012.

From left, University of South Florida Professor Susan MacManus, longtime reporter/columnist Bill Cotterell and reporter/moderator Gina Jordan engaged reporters in a discussion of ‘Covering Florida – The Nation’s Ground Zero for Voting Controversy.’ Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho also was on the panel.

Tom Julin of Gunster Yoakley & Stewart P.A. wove a fascinating story about the quest for FBI records related to possible Saudi support of the 9/11 attacks.

With discussions, handouts and web resources, reporters had plenty to keep them busy at the workshop.

Martin A. Dyckman, winner of the inaugural Susan Spencer-Wendel Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, returned in 2016 for a lunchtime session on the Supreme Court scandal that led to Florida’s current system of judicial merit selection and retention.

Chief Justice Jorge Labarga got in the last word with his ‘View from the Bench,’ the final presentation on the second day of the 2016 Reporters’ Workshop.

61st Annual Florida Bar Media Awards

Journalists were honored Sept. 19, 2016, at the 61st Annual Florida Bar Media Awards, which take place each year in conjunction with the Reporters’ Workshop. The event was held on the 22nd floor of the Capitol, with Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and several other justices among the attendees. The awards, sponsored by The Florida Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee, recognize outstanding journalism highlighting the system of law and justice as it affects Floridians.

Gloria Gomez of WTVT Fox 13 News in Tampa accepted the first-place honor in the Television category from Florida Bar President William J. Schifino, Jr. (left) and Errol H. Powell (right), chair of the Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee. Gomez investigated the issue of innocent people being sent to jail based on bad drug tests.

Frank Fernandez of the Daytona Beach News-Journal accepted the first-place in Print award from Florida Bar President William J. Schifino, Jr. (left) and Errol H. Powell (right), chair of the Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee. Skyler Swisher of the News-Journal also was on the award-winning team. Their report looked at the legal ramifications of officer-involved shootings in Florida.

Wilson Sayre of WLRN News 91.3 FM in Miami – who, by the way, also was a participant in this year’s Reporters’ Workshop – accepted the first-place in Radio plaque from Florida Bar President William J. Schifino, Jr. (left) and Errol H. Powell (right), chair of the Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee. Her project, “How a Tourist Murder Changed Juvenile Sentencing in Florida,’ included nearly two months of research and interviews.

Noah Pransky of WTSP-TV 10 News in St. Petersburg received the second-place in Television plaque from Florida Bar President William J. Schifino, Jr. (left) and Errol H. Powell (right), chair of the Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee. A six-month investigation exposed how the city of St. Petersburg used misleading signs and poor engineering to issue millions of dollars in school zone speeding tickets.

Sallie James, a friend of reporter Julie Kay for 30 years and a former colleague, accepted the Susan Spencer-Wendel Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Kay from Florida Bar President William J. Schifino, Jr. (left) and Errol H. Powell (right), chair of the Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee. The award was presented posthumously to Kay, a veteran award-winning journalist who covered the courts and law in Florida for nearly 30 years, most recently as a reporter for the Daily Business Review. Kay died in August of cancer.