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WGCU reporters earned Regional Murrow Awards for 2020

The WGCU news team won two Regional Murrow Awards for reporting in 2020. WGCU, along with the Naples Daily News and The News-Press, was recognized for Excellence in Innovation for our collaboration, the Coronavirus Town Hall series.


The virtual town halls included:

 100 Days of Coronavirus, June 2020, featured experts discussing health challenges, what’s next for education, the future of the restaurant industry and the impact this pandemic has had on the residents of Southwest Florida.

 SWFL Open for Business, July 2020, asked, was it worth it to reopen when we did? We talked with economists, business owners, and local leaders about whether the phased reopening in June paid off.

 Back to School, August 2020, examined the reasoning behind scheduling schools to open for face-to-face and/or online education for fall 2020. Masks? Social distancing? Temperature monitoring? What was a school year going to look like?

 Under Pressure, December 2020, featured local people experiencing mental health symptoms as well as experts on coping measures and where to get help.


Moderators for the series were WGCU News Director Julie Glenn and The News-Press/Naples Daily News Southwest Florida Audience Development Director Mark Bickel. The community was invited to participate by submitting questions in advance of each town hall and watching on WGCU, News-Press and Naples Daily News Facebook pages and websites.


For more information about the town hall series, go to swfl
WGCU also earned another Regional Murrow award in Feature Reporting, for “Black Cattle Rancher Family to Be Honored in Immokalee,” by Andrea Perdomo, March 12, 2020.


Perdomo was a reporter for WGCU until later in 2020, when she moved on to reporting for public media station WLRN in South Florida.


To read and hear the award-winning story, click here.