ORLANDO- Lake Okeechobee News won first place in two categories at the 2026 Florida Press Association (FPA) Weekly Newspaper Awards on June 5.

Katrina Elsken was awarded first place in the Sports Column category for her ‘Rodeo 101: A guide for greenhorns’ article. The article offers first-timers a primer on rodeo events, from Mutton Bustin', saddle bronc, and bull riding. It also goes in detail about how those riding competitions are judged with riders required to stay on with one hand for 8 seconds with both the animal's bucking and the cowboy's performance playing a role in the final score.

Richard Marion won first place in the Multimedia Storytelling category for the True Okee podcast on the death of Okeechobee dairyman Charles McArthur. The podcast examines the death of McArthur, who was a millionaire with connections to the Nixon Administration. McArthur called a private detective in Miami in early June of 1973 and relayed to him that he was in fear for his life. Three days after that call McArthur was found shot dead in his home in Okeechobee.

Lake Okeechobee News reporter Richard Marion with the first place trophy in Multimedia Storytelling at the 2026 Florida Press Association Newspaper contest. [Photo courtesy Amber Spradley]

Elsken was awarded third place in Best Obituary for her obituary of Gordie Peer and second place in the In-Depth Reporting category for her series on herbicide spraying on Lake Okeechobee.

Lake Okeechobee News staff were also nominated in the Special Issue category for their work on the 2025 Okeechobee County Community Guide and took home a third place win.

The 2026 FPA Weekly Newspaper Awards were held June 5 at Disney Springs in Orlando during the annual Florida Media Conference. The Florida Media Conference is an annual event that brings together top Florida Media executives for two days of industry knowledge sharing, networking opportunities, and valuable training for media professionals.

The Florida Press Association was founded in 1879 as a nonprofit corporation to protect the freedoms and advance the professional standards of the press of Florida. Its purpose includes the promotion and encouragement of higher standards of journalism to the benefit of the industry and the public.

The Florida Press Association includes all of the daily and most of the weekly newspapers in the state in its membership.