Sarasota Magazine took home 29 awards in the 2020 Florida Magazine Association’s annual Charlie Awards. Winners were announced virtually on Friday, July 24, on Facebook. Sarasota Magazine was the top award winner among all magazines for number of awards, with 12 first-place Charlie Awards, 10 Silver Awards and seven Bronze Awards.

“We have a talented, dedicated team in our editorial, art, sales, marketing, business and production departments at Sarasota Magazine, and we take pride in producing the finest lifestyle content in print, e-newsletters, social media and on our website,” says Susan Burns, the magazine’s editor in chief. “In particular, we are honored that as we focus on and enhance our digital content, our website was named the best among all consumer publications, with judges saying that Sarasota Magazine has been able to translate the experience of reading a magazine to a digital website ‘beautifully.’

"Also noteworthy is that we won a Charlie for ‘Best Overall Writing’ and a Charlie for ‘Best Redesign.' We dominated the design category for our circulation size.”

Earlier this year, Sarasota Magazine was also named a finalist for General Excellence in the City and Regional Magazine Association’s national competition, a contest judged by professionals from some of the nation’s biggest and best-known magazines. It’s an award we won in 2017 and a proud achievement for a publication in a smaller city.

“Many thanks to all our employees, our freelancers, our advertisers and our readers for helping to make us the best,” says Burns.

Here’s a quick look at the long list of our FMA awards!*

Charlie Awards

Best Digital: Magazine Website* (all consumer publications), (Megan McDonald)

Best Overall: Writing (Susan Burns, Kay Kipling, Ilene Denton, Cooper Levey-Baker, Megan McDonald)

Best Design: Cover (July 2019) (Gigi Ortwein)

Best Traditional Illustration: “Lost World,” (Christina Chung)

Best Photography: Photo Essay/Series, “Picture This,” (Jenny Acheson, Everett Dennison, Chris Lake, Brad McCourtney, Chad Spencer)

Best Photography: Single Department Image, “Snake Hunter” (Fred Lopez)

Best Design: Use of Photography, “Gulf Feast, Top 50 Restaurants, Top Tickets”

Best Design: Department, “Only in Sarasota,” (John Pirman)

Best Design: Feature “Gulf Feast,” (Lauren Pritchard)

Best Advertorial: Story or Section, “Suffragist Project” for Florida Studio Theatre* (all consumer publications) (Kelley Lavin, Ilene Denton, Lauren Pritchard, Gigi Ortwein)

Best Special Theme Issue “March Issue: 40^th Anniversary” (edit and art staff)

Best Redesign (Gigi Ortwein)

Silver Awards

Best Overall Magazine (Staff)

Best Overall: Design (Gigi Ortwein)

Best Digital: Social Media (Megan McDonald)

Best Writing: Feature, “T-Shirt Wars,” (Cooper Levey-Baker)

Best Writing: Public Service* (all consumer publications), “Addicted at Birth,” (Cooper Levey-Baker)

Best Writing: Humor, “Mr. Chatterbox: End of the World” (Robert Plunket)

Best Writing: Service Feature, “Happy Trails” (Isaac Eger)

Best Writing: Feature Headlines,“T-Shirt Wars,” “There Goes the Neighborhood,” “I Wouldn't Piss Me Off” (Ilene Denton, Pam Daniel)

Best Photography: Single Feature Image, “Fitness Fighters,” (Everett Dennison)

Best Design: Typography, “Jet Set,” (Gigi Ortwein)

Bronze Awards

Best Writing: Feature, “Paper Cuts,” (David Hackett)

Best Writing: Public Service* (all consumer publications), “Putting the Pieces Together,” (Pam Daniel)

Best Writing: Humor, “Mr. Chatterbox: Social Media Influencer,” (Robert Plunket)

Best Writing: Service Feature, “Grab and Go,” (Cooper Levey-Baker)

Best Photo Illustration, “There Goes the Neighborhood,” Patrick Boyer

Best Photography: Single Feature Image, “Fashion,” (Mark Farmwald)

Best Design: Typography, “Cut the Grass,” (Gigi Ortwein)

*Unless otherwise indicated, prize was awarded for our circulation category