Photo Courtesy of Sean D.
Every year, the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters holds a ceremony to reward various television, radio and digital stations that subscribe to the Associated Press’ services.
The Associated Press, or AP, is as a not-for-profit news cooperative representing 1,400 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States.
Winners of the college competition accepted their awards this past weekend at the Wyndham Resort in Orlando.
Five Florida A&M’s News 20 multimedia student journalists took home awards this year: Kiah Lewis, Morgan Martin, Monica Myrick, Cierra Richardson and Giselle Thomas won awards ranging from Best Hard News Feature to Best Light Feature. Lewis, Myrick and Thomas graduated last year.
Martin, a graduating senior, took home first place for Best Hard News Feature for her story on Florida’s red tide issue. She says that she was excited when she found out she was receiving the award.
“I knew that I worked hard during my tenure at FAMU,” Martin said. “I always wanted it to go far, but I didn’t know that I’d get this far this soon, so I’m very thankful for the push of my professors to get the AP award.”
These accolades mean much as they point out broadcast journalism students who excelled in these media fields during their tenure learning from media professionals, faculty and alumni.
Richardson, who’s also a graduating senior, won an award for Best Light Feature | Short Format.
“It’s something bigger than myself and just being able to share that with my family, my friends, and my SJGC classmates was something so amazing,” she said.
The award ceremony also offered more than just trophies. Students and aspiring media professionals had the opportunity to meet television executives who were there to accept awards of their own.
Tiffany Bui, a student at FAMU who attended the ceremony, said that the networking opportunities were very important.
“It was the perfect amount of people,” Bui said. “There was enough important people there where everyone had the opportunity to introduce themselves and make the best impression.”
In addition to FAMU award recipients there were students from schools in Orlando, Gainesville and Miami.
Richardson’s advice to students looking to win awards is to work hard, discipline yourself and to go after every opportunity.
“Even if you feel that you’re not the best fit for it or it’s something that you may not be interested in, just give it a try because you never know what that opportunity can lead to and you never know who you may meet as well,” Richardson said.