WOKV awarded Regional Edward R. Murrow for digital news reporting

Jacksonville, Fl — Coronavirus, race relations and police, political convention drama and local political races dominated news coverage on WOKV.COM during 2020. Northeast Florida turned to WOKV.COM in record numbers for comprehensive local news coverage.

104.5 WOKV has been awarded a regional Edward R. Murrow award for digital news reporting.

Reporter Hannah Lee spent weeks investigating the use of force by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office over a five-year period. This investigation culminated in an extensive and visually appealing story that originally published on June 19.

Early in the spring it became clear that WOKV.COM could be a resource for up to the minute coronavirus stories, closures and testing information. Our team cultivated the most relevant headlines for our audience from local reporting teams, and listener generated content.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season broke several records including the most named storms. WOKV and its branded First Alert Weather Team provided stories, daily tropics updates from Chief Meteorologist Mike Buresh, as well as local emergency resource.

In the days after George Floyd was killed, and protests in Jacksonville turned violent, WOKV hosted an hour-long conversation on race, policing and reform in Jacksonville. Guests included Jacksonville’s Sheriff, State Attorney and Mayor, as well as leading activists from the Jacksonville community. In addition to airing on WOKV Radio and Action News Jax, video was published on our web and Facebook pages for additional audience reach.

WOKV’s annual community fundraiser, Careathon, raised $200,000 for the Child Cancer Fund of Northeast Florida. This annual event was expanded to an entire week. In 2020, we pivoted from our traditional in person fundraiser to an all-virtual event using multiple digital resources. Using social media, live video streaming platforms, on-demand audio, and our websites, WOKV was able to eclipse our fundraising goal.

The RTDNA outlines the digital award category as ‘an overview of web presence, or focus on multimedia coverage of a single news topic. The site should be of practical use to the general public and maximize online technologies to inform and educate the public and enhance public debate about important daily issues’.

WOKV has previously won the Regional Edward R. Murrow for digital news reporting in 2014, and for excellence in innovation in 2020.

Cox Media Group