Veteran South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Krischer Goodman and photojournalist Carline Jean have won one of Florida journalism’s most prestigious awards — among honors awarded to several members of the newspaper’s staff in the 2025 Florida Society of News Editors competition.
Goodman and Jean share the Paul Hansell Award for Distinguished Achievement in Florida Journalism, which recognizes overall excellence in reporting and the “sum of a writer’s work, its range and diversity.” The late Paul Hansell was a longtime Associated Press Bureau chief in Florida and former FSNE member.
“Born to Die: Florida’s infant mortality crisis” was a four-part series published in March 2024. It focused on the deaths of babies and the suffering of their mothers despite millions of dollars spent on the problem. The articles analyzed state data to uncover inadequacies in maternal healthcare amid increasing restrictions on abortion, particularly among Black women and other women of color.
“This is a phenomenal series that required tremendous time and effort to produce,” the FSNE judges said in their review of the series. “Kudos to both reporter Cindy Krischer Goodman and the Sun Sentinel for finding the resources to make this happen. The ‘Born to Die’ series is a testament to the power of journalism that gives a voice to the voiceless.”
“We are incredibly proud of Cindy Goodman and Carline Jean for receiving this honor,” said South Florida Sun Sentinel Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. “This kind of data-driven journalism is important, and challenging to pursue. Thanks to the Florida Society of News Editors for recognizing that Cindy’s analysis of Florida’s alarming infant mortality rate was both hard-hitting and sensitive.”
Seven other Sun Sentinel editorial staff members were honored Thursday in the Division A classification of news organizations at the annual FSNE conference in Port Charlotte.
The award recipients include:
- Shira Moolton: Beat Reporting, Third Place, for “Crime, Public Safety and breaking news beat.”
- Ron Hurtibise: Business, Third Place, for “Slide Insurance takes out Florida insurance market.”
- Sean Pitts and Phillip Valys: Feature Video, Second Place, for “First Look: Fly-through the new look Mai-Kai tiki bar in Oakland Park.”
- Sun Sentinel Staff: Niche Site / App, First Place, for “Explore Florida and the Caribbean.” Explore Florida is a joint venture of the Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel.
- Mark Gauert and Anderson Greene: Second Place, Magazine / Website, for City & Shore / PRIME Magazine. Gauert is the magazine’s editor-in-chief and Greene is the publication’s graphic designer. The magazine is published by the Sun Sentinel.
- Lauren Brensel: Second Place, Feature Writing, Student Classification, for her article “Sky Saviors” about the work of air traffic controllers in Florida. She also won third place in the breaking news reporting category for “Lieutenant Dan.” Brensel, who is a Sun Sentinel newswriting intern, reported her stories while a member of Fresh Take Florida, the news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
