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Awards

2024 WALDO PROFFITT AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM

The Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications at the University of South Florida invites entries for the 2024 Waldo Proffitt Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism in Florida.

The award recognizes distinguished examples of reporting and commentary about environmental issues in Florida. The Waldo Proffitt Award was established in 1998 by friends of Waldo Proffitt, a former editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The award is made possible by the Waldo Proffitt Scholarship Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Inc.

The $1,000 award will be given for outstanding achievement in a story or series of stories, commentary or editorials from Jan. 1, 2023, to March 1, 2024.

The rules:

1. Work must have been published/aired by a Florida news outlet: newspaper, TV news station, radio station or digital news site. Entries by an individual or team may include distinguished local reporting of breaking news, distinguished investigative reporting presented as a single story or series, distinguished explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject presented as a single story or series, distinguished commentary or editorial writing, or a combination of these forms.

2. Journalists employed by daily and weekly newspapers, TV stations, radio stations and digital news organizations are eligible for the award, as are their news organizations.

3. Only one entry per news organization may be submitted each year, but the entry may have as many as five items.

4. Entries will be accepted as links. An explanatory letter not to exceed one page may accompany the entry. Each entry should have the entrant's name, address, phone number and the name of the news organization. Use this Google form to upload your entry:

Deadline: August 16, 2024

The Waldo Proffitt Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism in Florida is administered by The Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. Questions may be addressed to Wendy Whitt, The Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications, at wwhitt@usf.edu.

*The award will be presented at the University of South Florida in the fall.