UF has been crowned the best in the nation once again.
WUFT, the university's Public Broadcasting Service, was awarded two national Mark of Excellence awards in television from the Society of Professional Journalists.
A team of two students won the Television Breaking News Reporting category for their coverage of Tropical Storm Fay in August of 2008.
Patrick Fleming, the cameraman, and Miles Doran, the reporter, will jointly receive their award at the 2009 Mark of Excellence Luncheon in Indianapolis, Ind., on Aug. 28, during the Society of Professional Journalists Convention and National Journalism Conference.
The station also won the overall Television Newscast award, a top honor in the television category.
The students' story focused on how lightly the residents of St. Augustine were taking the threat of Tropical Storm Fay.
"The story really captured the mood of St. Augustine," said Mark Leeps, news director at WUFT. "People weren't taking the storm too seriously."
Fleming, a 25-year-old telecommunications production senior, said it was the personal touch that residents added that set it apart from the competition.
"It was not just a normal nuts-and-bolts story," he said.
By interviewing the Sunset Grille restaurant owner who refused to close for the storm, the students portrayed the defiant attitude of the St. Augustine residents.
The wind roared and the ocean sprayed on the camera lens while Doran, a telecommunications news senior, waded across the eroded beaches to report the effects of the storm.
Some residents weren't fazed, however, as they were shown partying on the ocean pier toasting to Fay, beers in hand.
WUFT is annually among the top student-run broadcasts in the nation and wins one or more of these awards each year, Leeps said.
Although the station placed second in the overall television newscast category from 2004 through 2006, it had not taken home a first place finish since 1998, he said.
For the 2008 awards, more than 3,600 entries were submitted in 39 different categories, according to the Society of Professional Journalists Web site.
