The Florida Press Association honored four of Mainstreet Daily News’ stories with awards on Friday during its annual two-day conference. 

Reporter Seth Johnson won two awards, placing second in the local government reporting category and third in the faith and family reporting category. Reporter Glory Reitz also scored honors in the faith and family category, capturing second place. 

C.J. Gish, Mainstreet’s senior editor, won third place in the sports feature category for a profile of former Gator and current Olympian Grant Holloway. 

“The stories that placed really showcase a strength of our editorial team: going beyond the headlines to bring readers compelling people and explain important government actions,” Mainstreet Publisher J.C. Derrick said.  

Mainstreet competes in Division B of the FPA’s Weekly Newspaper Contest, submitting stories from its weekly print edition. Division B includes newspapers across Florida with a circulation between 4,000 to 15,000 copies. 

“Three of the four stories we won awards for were feature-oriented, which shows how Mainstreet wants to celebrate the people and organizations in our community and the positive examples they are promoting,” Gish said. 

Mainstreet’s print edition launched midway through 2022, so 2023 was the first time the publication had a full year of coverage it could submit. In last year’s contest, Mainstreet earned two awards. 

“It’s rewarding to be recognized alongside statewide peers who are much older than Mainstreet,” Derrick said. “We know our work matters to the community, but it’s nice to see it also stacks up well against excellent competition.” 

At this week’s conference, Derrick also was elected to serve an additional two years on the FPA board. Derrick was first elected to the board in 2023. 

“Having board representation put Mainstreet at the leading edge of media issues in Florida—from mobilizing against a bad defamation bill to finding new ways to innovate as an industry,” Derrick said. 

Award-winning writing 

Gish, who won an award last year for his sports photography, said he was “blessed and humbled” for snagging a writing award this year.  

As senior editor, Gish runs Mainstreet’s daily news operation, but his first love is sports coverage. In addition to writing sports features, he also serves as the primary photographer for the news organization’s local sports coverage, spending hours training his lens on the area’s best high school athletes. 

The feature on Holloway developed out of their shared work on the greeter team at Canvas Church in Alachua, but it was Holloway’s journey to becoming a world champion hurdler that intrigued Gish the sportswriter. 

“Grant is one of the top track and field athletes in history at both the collegiate and professional level on the indoor and outdoor circuits,” Gish said. “To get a glimpse into what has gotten him to this point — from his work ethic, his exuberant personality and his faith — was very inspiring.” 

The writing contest judges praised in particular Gish’s use of details to tell Holloway’s story.  

One of Gish’s biggest challenges this year was selecting just a few of Mainstreet’s stories to submit to the contest. 

 “My regret is that we didn’t enter more stories and photos in the various categories we could have,” Gish said. “I will guarantee that next year we will have many, many more submissions entered and show off our wonderful content to the FPA judges.” 

Johnson regularly covers the Gainesville City Commission and the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners for Mainstreet. His reporting about the city’s efforts to develop inclusionary zoning regulations – after a push to reform exclusionary zoning fell apart –garnered him second place in the statewide local government reporting competition. 

“While zoning and land-use stories can cause glossed eyes, Gainesville residents were completely absorbed by the zoning changes the City Commission proposed in 2022,” Johnson said. “As a reporter, I wanted to bring clarity and updates to the conversation.” 

By following discussions at the City Plan Board, Johnson said he knew the inclusionary zoning talks had the potential to tap into the passion that had surrounded the stalled zoning reforms from the year before. 

“I wanted my story to be the Inclusionary Zoning 101 piece that residents use to catch up on the topic and then engage with their neighbors and even commissioners,” Johnson said. 

Judges for the FPA agreed that is what Johnson’s zoning story achieved, with one writing: “What I like is that it explains the action to the reader in layman’s terms.”  

Johnson’s award-winning feature on  Mirror Image Leadership Academy examined how and why Gregory Bradley established the faith-based and character-driven program to work with young Black men in Alachua County. 

Spotlighting the impact programs like Mirror Image Leadership Academy have on the Gainesville community is one of Johnson’s goals in his reporting.  

“Bradley’s nonprofit presented an opportunity to highlight how citizens are also working to better local youth,” Johnson said. “Highlighting local nonprofits, something Mainstreet has focused on, can hit readers as just information, but I hope that stories about the people behind the nonprofits prompt readers to go beyond an informational awareness.” 

Reitz also earned honors in the faith and family reporting category. She garnered second place for a feature on the origins and purpose of the United We Father group in Newberry. The group encourages men to get more involved and provide support to children in the community. 

The story idea, pitched as a Father’s Day feature, was one that Reitz was handed during her first weeks with Mainstreet and she did some primary reporting for the story after covering her first Newberry City Commission meeting. 

“A community group for fathers seemed unique enough to begin with, but after learning about the group’s origins and format, I was struck by how organic and adaptive it was,” Reitz said. “I appreciated that the members wanted to work symbiotically with other, existing groups, instead of in competition with them.” 

As part of her work with Mainstreet, Reitz now covers the Newberry City Commission and regularly interacts with several of the members of the United We Father group. 

“I hope the story reached readers who are interested in getting involved with their communities, and inspired them to look for an opportunity,” Reitz said. “And I hope that it generally encouraged readers about the state of the community in Alachua County, and the fact that there are people trying to build stronger bonds and be good neighbors and fathers.” 

Reitz said it was an honor to have a story she wrote so early in her professional career win an award. 

“When I wrote the story, it never occurred to me that it would be any kind of prizewinner—I just thought it was a lot of fun and felt privileged to be the one to tell the story,” Reitz said. “I’m pleased to be able to re-read it a year later and still feel it’s a story worth telling.” 

Johnson, who has worked at Mainstreet for more than three years, and Reitz are the news organization’s only full-time news reporters. Because it’s a small operation, the two also take on non-writing tasks, pitching in with the website, social media accounts and the print edition. 

“Each Mainstreet staffer covers a lot of ground with multiple beats, and it’s gratifying to see we’re doing the job in an award-winning fashion—especially as a newer publication,” Johnson said. “It’s nice to stick your head above the noise of daily meetings, emails and comments to see that your past work has had an impact and your current work will, too.” 

Editor’s Note: Updated to add comments throughout