The Ocala Style team earned three silver and three bronze awards in the Florida Magazine Association’s Charlie Awards competition. The winners were announced Friday, July 24th, in a virtual online presentation.
The awards are:
- Silver – Best Writing: Department – “Country” May & December – Nick Steele, Belea Keeney, JoAnn Guidry, Cynthia McFarland, Lisa McGinnes
- Silver – Best Photography: Photo/Essay Series – “Heart of the Storm” – Dave Miller, Susan Smiley-Height
- Silver – Best Design: Department – “Table” November & January – Nick Steele, Brooke Pace, Simon Mendoza
- Bronze – Best Writing: Editorial/Commentary/Opinion – “Why Buying Local Matters” – Jennifer Hunt Murty, Nick Steele
- Bronze – Best Writing: Feature Headlines – “Legacy of Love, Heart of the Storm, Chasing the Bloom” – Nick Steele
- Bronze – Best Advertorial: Story of Section – “Growing A Dream – Cullison-Wright Construction Corporation” – Nick Steele, Lisa McGinnes, Alan Youngblood, Simon Mendoza
“It’s nice to be recognized by the industry for our hard work. But in the end it’s not our quest for awards that fuels us- it’s our shared passion for this town,” said Publisher Jennifer Hunt Murty.
The annual awards recognize achievements by publishers, writers, editors, artists, photographers, printers, marketers and others. Submissions are judged by out-of-state magazine and newspaper professionals and college journalism professors. Entries for the recent contest must have been published between March 1st 2019 and February 29th, 2020. Ocala Style is in the under 20,000 circulation category.
The awards are named for Charles G. “Charlie” Wellborn Jr., a 1958 graduate of the University of Florida, who later became a professor in the College of Journalism and Communications. His leadership within the Florida magazine industry earned him the FMA’s Achiever of the Year Award in 1973. He retired in 1987 and the association honored him by renaming its top award. He died in 2002.
