FlaglerLive won the Florida Press Club’s top award as Florida’s best online independent news site in all divisions. FlaglerLive also won first place in education reporting among all online sites and newspapers with a circulation of up to 40,000.
FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam took second place in commentary (the top award went to The Bradenton Journal‘s Marc Masferrer), and FlaglerLive earned an honorable mention in the Lucy Morgan Award for In-Depth Reporting, also among all online sites and newspapers with a circulation of up to 40,000.
The awards were announced Saturday evening at the Florida Press Club’s annual banquet in Daytona Beach, where the keynote speaker was Mark Lane, the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s veteran columnist and humorist.
For best online news sites, the award recognizes general-excellence, with sites judged “on overall content and design, local emphasis, interactivity and ease of navigation.” A separate award went to sites affiliated with a print newspaper. In that category, the staff of the Bradenton Herald won the state’s top honor.
“The awards bestowed on FlaglerLive by the Florida Press Club,” Steve Robinson, a FlaglerLive board member, said, “are a welcome reminder of the importance of diligent, fact-based reporting and commentary on local issues and on the actions of elected officials who make decisions affecting us all.”
The FlaglerLive articles that won the education award reflected the weaponization of the Flagler County School Board by pressure groups such as the “moms for liberty” on one hand and complicitly disruptive school board members on the other, some of whom militated for book bans. The articles were written by Tristam.
The three essays that earned the commentary award focused on the criminal justice system–the progressive unpredictability of all-white juries in Flagler, the barbaric but enduring habit of corporal punishment, and an instance of “Grace from the Crime of Punishment.” Tristam last year won two third-place awards–for commentary, and for arts criticism–from Florida’s Society of Professional Journalists. (Commentary falls on the opinion side of journalism.)
For nearly 70 years, the Florida Press Club has been honoring the best in Florida journalism from layout to photography to writing. It was originally called the Florida Women’s Press Club, as no other clubs allowed women to compete when it was started. Honorees have expanded to include men and digital-only publications.
The work honored Saturday was published between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021.
The Sun Sentinel’s series “Crying out for Help,” earned the Club’s Frances DeVore Award for Community that comes with a $1,000 prize. The series chronicled how the paper discovered that thousands of calls to Broward County’s emergency dispatch went unanswered, sometimes with devastating results. Public concern about the situation led to raises of up to $29,000 a year for some dispatchers, according to the paper.
The winner of the Lucy Morgan Award for In-Depth Reporting went to the Florida Times-Union for its coverage of federal indictments in the attempted sale of Jacksonville’s public utility. The paper detailed how the utility’s executives pressured the board into seeking offers so that those same executives could profit from the sale.
FlaglerLive is an independent, non-profit news site established in 2010, with a readership of between 20,000 and 25,000 a day during non-emergencies. (The site has competed in journalistic contests on only three occasions over the years, and placed each time.) The site is supported by a combination of advertising and readers’ direct, tax-deductible contributions.
Mary M. McCrohan says
Congratulations. Well deserved.
Jan says
Congrats, and so well-deserved!
Pogo says
@FlaglerLive
Congratulations, very well deserved.
Deborah Coffey says
Bravo! And, congratulations! This is a well-deserved award.
Gina Weiss says
Bravo Pierre ! And to all your contributing editors for keeping us in the know!
Me says
WAY TO GO PIERRE AND WELL DESERVED.
R.S. says
Congratulations, Pierre. That is most deserving recognition.
Roy Longo says
A few years ago I gave up watching and reading all news except FlaglerLive and the News Journal. More recently I started scanning the headlines of the News Journal and started reading more FlaglerLive articles. Especially the Op-Ed pieces. I may not always agree with the author’s position but I always respected his opinion. I don’t believe there is a better source for local news in Flagler County than FlaglerLive. We are fortunate to Pierre Tristam around here and that fact was supported by the judging of these awards. Congratulations FlaglerLive for being recognized for things many of us already knew.
Fernando Melendez says
Congratulations! Well deserved 👏
Brynn Newton says
Marc Masferrer must be some writer!
Butch Naylor says
Congratulations Pierre and Flagler Live crew. Thank you for your outstanding reporting. We are very fortunate to have you guys.
Award comes as no surprise.
Impressionist says
Congrats. You folks are awesome for sure.
Tristam, dude. You just gonna leave us hanging in South Dakota? Keep’em coming.
Pierre Tristam says
I love to hear that, but the American Impressions series was just for the holidays: the continuation resumes next Christmas.
Roy Longo says
What??? Next Christmas???
Old Timer says
I met Pierre when he was in the business planning stages of Flaglerlive. That he is now recognized prestigiously as a winner alongside larger Florida media newspapers is an outstanding achievement. Very well deserved. We’re lucky here in Flagler County. Pierre could take his immense journalism talent anywhere he desires, so shhhhh! We enjoy and appreciate the fact that he’s here.
Chris Gollon - AskFlagler.com says
Tremendously well-deserved. Flagler County is immeasurably benefitted by the hard work and persistently relevant journalism of Flagler Live. Full congratulations from our site on this honor!
Janet Sullivan says
Very generous of you, Chris. You are a class act.
Barbara Salter says
Congratulations, Pierre! We’ll deserved validation of your efforts!
Atwp says
Great job.
Nancy N says
Huge congratulations! Extremely well-deserved and wonderful to see your hard work and service to the community recognized!
Edith Campins says
Congratulations. Well deserved. You are an asset to our community.
Robert Cuff says
Local news has always been important to a community but, with the pressure on print journalism and the trend of formerly local daily newspapers being bought up by big conglomerates, the value of a news resource like FlaglerLive just increases every year.
Congratulations and thank you.
BeBe Smith says
Your newspaper is a biased liberal rag.
Kohona Bill says
Glad somebody has the BALLS to say it !!!!
Laurel says
Kohona: BeBe balls are not impressive.
Sherry says
Hello BeBe,
Since you obviously do not like the excellent “factual” information published by Flaglerlive, instead of angry culture warrier mud slinging, why not start your own media outlet? What? Too much work for you?
Ok, then. . . just do the open minded, educated folks in the Flagler community a favor and stick to the conspiracy theories and lies on FOX.
Ray W. says
While I often doubt Hegel’s premise that every hypothesis posed by one segment of society will automatically trigger an immediate antithesis by a different segment of society, and that the clash between the hypothesis and antithesis will produce a continually changing overall societal synthesis, commenters like BeBe Smith reaffirm my belief in that famous trinity. Thank you, BeBe Smith, for your automatic reaction that presents as having occurred without any thought on your part to the news that Mr. Tristam, personally, and FlaglerLive, as a business, earned recognition and awards for various reports and columns. Your action without thought reaffirms my belief in Hegel’s explanation of human behavior.
Laurel says
Ray W.: BeBe balls has no idea what you are talking about.
Snarky lesson.
jeffery c. seib says
It’s called a different viewpoint and it’s what separates us from the Trump/Putin/DeSantis/Erdogan/Kim young IL’s and more autocrats of the world. Freedom of the press is what they hate and so do all like them.
Laurel says
This, in itself, is good news! I wouldn’t bother with this site if it weren’t for the fact that Pierre and his staff find the most interesting articles. They are informative, challenging, and down right right on! I don’t always agree, but I always trust what I read here from the staff themselves, and the articles they pick out.
Keep it up award winners!
John F. Pollinger says
In 2017, The Washington Post adopted a slogan uttered years earlier by journalist Bob Woodward and attributed in various ways going back to 1786. The Massachusetts Gazette had published an explanation outlining and directed to the “printers in America” for the need of a free press. The slogan used by The Washington Post below their banner simply reads this:
“Democracy Dies in Darkness”.
With the ever-shrinking number of print and online sources in this country, now more than ever, it is imperative to support local news and opinion which shines light on every day events as well as the government in Flagler County and beyond. My sincere congratulations to Pierre for his individual recognition and to Flagler Live, well-deserved awards for news and opinions generated for the purpose of enlightenment.
Laurel says
John F.P.: This precisely why the autocratic leaders (Trump, DeSantis, et al) get rid of the intelligentsia first. This is why they are trying to dumb down Americans, in schools, on social media and networks like Fox, to make it easier to control citizens. Fortunately, there are still Americans who see this.
Ray W. says
Please accept my hearty congratulations for your awards and my heartfelt thanks for your work. You caught my attention over 20 years ago with your prescient Icarus on Crack editorial. My appreciation for you and your work has only grown over the years.
DoubleGator says
Well deserved! Congratulations.
Skibum says
Wow, that is great! It is about time you are getting some well deserved recognition for your journalistic excelence that we get to take advantage of on a daily basis here in Flagler County. Maybe even DeSantis’ ears will start picking up some tibdits of factual news huh? Naw, that’s too much to hope for, but you know what they say… “Hope springs eternal”.
Eva says
Wooohoo!! Congratulations and well deserved!! We are fortunate to have you here in Flagler!
Martin Collins says
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition
Flaglerlive provides top class information and it is much appreciated
Pierre is a true professional
Snowbird says
Congratulations. As a snowbird I wish we had something like Flaglerlive here in PA. I know more about Flagler than I do my home county. As our major newspapers get smaller there is a need for first rate local reporting.
Jack Howell says
Great news and well deserved!
Not a Fan says
Obviously , you have mistaken me for someone who give’s a SH*T.
The dude says
You “give a SH*T” enough to comment though, yeah?
Totally shows you don’t give a SH*T… clearly.
James says
Congratulations.
KMedley says
Congratulations and thank you for all you do to keep us informed.
jeffery c. seib says
Congratulations to Flagler Live and Pierre Tristam. Your excellence in reporting and opinion has been recognized by us here and all over. This achievement is the signpost that this is a community asset we need here in Flagler. If not for you and Flagler Live many items of importance to us all would be snuck away in the dead of night. Thanks.
Janet Sullivan says
I have frequently thought that the road you and your wife chose for your family hasn’t been 100% easy. Self-employment is never easy, and you had gifted children to raise and educate. And… journalism! I know I’ll never forget the photo you printed of Cheryl and your daughter at the window in Lakeland. As proven by the awards and accolades, you’ve more than established your bona fides and you could go anywhere to do your good work. Thank you for being HERE. Your readers appreciate you, but how joyful it must feel to be recognized by your peers for your excellent work. Congratulations!
Sherry says
Extremely well done and well deserved Pierre and Cheryl! You two have single handedly created an incredible beacon of truth in the fascist wilderness of fear, hate and lies of NorthEast Florida!
Keep the fires of civilization burning! May your zeal for uncovering and presenting the facts against the fierce winds of political corruption, racism, and injustice spread across our country and fuel the growth of a new, stronger Democracy for us all!
You have our most heart felt CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Dbhammock says
I cannot believe they gave Flagler Live an award for independent news and they used the words fact based. Their facts are all one sided, totally liberal. This award is a joke
Ray W. says
You are allowed to wander through life fooling yourself, as are we all, especially me. As Wittgenstein argued, the most difficult thing in life is to not fool oneself. You might wish to start the long journey to understanding by researching the true definition of liberalism, which is adherence to the rule of law and respect for individual rights; it is not socialism, and it most certainly is not communism.
Perhaps Winston Churchill explained it best:
“Liberalism has its own history and its own traditions. Socialism has its own formulas and aims. Socialism seeks to pull down wealth; Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests; Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. Socialism assails the pre-eminence of the individual; Liberalism seeks, and shall seek more in the future, to build up a minimum standard for the mass. Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capital; Liberalism attacks monopoly.”
If I had to choose Churchill’s understanding of how liberal government works or your poorly thought-out expression on liberalism, I would choose Churchill every time.
Our founding fathers were liberals.
The exercise of intellectual rigor, Dbhammock, can be a virtue. Our founding fathers hoped that their liberal democratic Constitutional republic would produce men and women of virtue, but they greatly feared the partisan gullible mob that can so easily be persuaded to follow men of ambition. Our founding fathers studied and understood human nature. This was why they inserted checks and balances for every government power into their proposed Constitution, so as to protect us all from the partisan gullible mob. Your choice! Will it be as a member of the partisan gullible mob, a member who lacks the desire to correctly define terms like liberalism before striking keys on a keyboard or a life of intellectual rigor?
The dude says
(facts and the actual truth tend to be a little biased toward the liberal side of things, as MAGA literally deals in grievance, lies and deceit)
Aynne McAvoy says
We are so lucky to have you here in Flagler County. Flagler Live is my go to for up to date factual local news. Congratulations on a job well done.
Kat says
I echo many of the other posters in saying that this was a thoroughly deserved recognition. The articles written by Pierre are full of wit and masterful presentation of the English language. I very much appreciate the careful curation of other news and opinion pieces. It takes courage to put together your product, please keep shining your light in this, sometimes dark corner of the world.
Marlee says
Yaaaaaaaa! I read this everyday…Congrats!
Jane says
Congratulations! Flaglerlive has my respect and thanks in large part to Pierre Tristam.
Pat Stote says
We moved from Palm Coast to Pompano Beach a few years ago and I read Flagler Live every morning while I’m still in bed.
Love the in depth stories and your recognition of DeSantis’s bad policies.
William Moya says
💖
Scott Olsen says
I am envious of Pierre’s writing talent. Thank you for providing it to us here in Flagler. Smart as a whip!
Toto says
Awesom news! Congrats! More importantly, thank you for being a light in a pretty dark state. Soooo appreciate your gift of great journalism.
What Else Is New says
Congratulations Pierre. I feel privileged to have access to Flaglerlive and honor you and your staff. I seek truth in news coverage, thus reading Flaglerive truth can be found. You are an exceptionally brilliant journalist. Thank you for the many years of sharing your thoughts.
Roy Longo says
I love how FlaglerLive allows post that are bias against their own belief and foundation; meaning someone comes on here and calls this news site a liberal rag and it gets posted. Usually just an insult about differing ideologies and there is no hesitation to censor or block those posts. We can read them right along with the praises. That’s the mark of true journalism. Write what you need to and stand behind what you write. No more. No less.
Frank Nogueira says
Congratulations! I read the news from you all the time.
Whathehck? says
Bias? Tristam and his team will report dishonesty regardless of the political party of the perpetrator of falsehood.
Congratulation to Pierre and his team.
Readers! Do you want to keep this incredible news outlet going? Be part of it and make a generous donation or a recurring donation.
John Sbordone says
I always figured I knew a lot but when I read Pierre, I realized I don’t know enough.
Keep up the brilliant commentary. We can not do without it.
Let the howlers bellow in the wilderness. Unfortunately the hot air only contributes to global warming.
dos passos