ORLANDO – The Florida Press Association recently honored Clay Today for its 2017 breaking news coverage of Hurricane Irma.

Reporter Kile Brewer, former reporter Jesse Hollett and Managing Editor Eric Cravey were honored with a first place award in the FPA’s 2017 Better Weekly Newspaper Contest for the category of Breaking News Story. The award was handed down Aug. 10 at a luncheon in Orlando at the Hilton Bonnet Creek Reserve at Disney World.

In submitting the entry, Cravey wrote an explanation of what the staff had to endure the week of September 14, 2017 in order to get the paper published.

“Our reporters trudged through flooded front yards and parking lots to interview people for these stories all the while our newspaper offices went without power. The day we went to press, we set up shop in our sports editor’s fiancé’s living room and used a Verizon hotspot to FTP the files to our printer. We had all gone days without sleep, cool beds and showers to write these stories and tell how Hurricane Irma changed Clay County residents’ lives so quickly that fateful day in September 2017. Each story in this file is our submission, for better or for worse,” Cravey wrote in the contest’s submission package.

In one critique of the Clay Today submission, one anonymous judge gave the paper kudos for its tenacity in putting out the paper that week.

“It’s difficult enough covering a disaster in your community without the added problem of doing it from someone’s home using a hotspot due to no power at your office. Good job all-around! From residents riding it out in the shelter to the rescue of pets from the animal shelter to church response to first-hand accounts from flooded areas, your team had it covered with words and photos. Plus, the timeline and tips added to the overall content,” the judge wrote.

This year’s award marks two consecutive years Clay Today has been honored for it work.

Last year, Hollett won third place in the Faith and Family reporting category for a story headlined “Innocence interrupted: Aftermath of Sept. 11 attacks through an Imam’s eyes” and third place in the In-Depth Reporting category for “Two years after the Fog: City recovering from suicide contagion.”