Tampa Bay Times environmental reporter Max Chesness and energy reporter Emily L. Mahoney were awarded the Lucy Morgan Award at a newsroom ceremony on Wednesday.
Chesness and Mahoney were awarded for their storytelling to reveal the state’s plans to develop golf courses and other amenities in Florida’s state parks. Their report, a bipartisan opposition zinc-plated opposition, led Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, pulling the plan out of consideration and urged legislation banning the development of state parks.
“I can’t imagine a story that had more outcomes in 2024 in terms of being able to shape the policy debate,” Times editor Mark Kutches said at the newsroom ceremony on Wednesday. “The whole park scenery could have been done differently if it wasn’t for you.”
The same day Chesness and Mahoney won the award, and the Florida home unanimously passed a bill that would prohibit golf courses, hotels or other amenities from being built in state parks.
“It’s an honor to be recognized, but the real award is that these truly special places will be protected for years to come,” Chesness said.
Chesness was a 2023 Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy. He covers all the environment and climate of the era, including water quality issues, the impact of government efficiency reductions, and policy impacts on Florida’s environment (such as a story about how hurricane waves carry turtle populations across open water miles).
In an anonymous memo obtained by Chesnes, an involved Florida Department of Environmental Protection employee warned about the park’s proposal. As the story unfolds, Chesness said Mahoney was “happily on board” to provide political context.
Mahoney, who previously dealt with Times politics, is now an energy reporter. Through her beat, she has a sharp look at the utility companies serving Tampa Bay. It details how decisions affect residents and shares stories about innovative technology (e.g., recent features on electric vehicles).
“As someone who has covered state politics in the past, the rarity of seeing such united protests cannot be overstated,” Mahoney said. “It was a really great memory of why local journalism is so important.”
In addition to the law moving the Florida State Capitol, biologists have also begun applications for protection of rare flower seeds around the park’s land that will become golf courses.
“You were gathering around Republicans and Democrats to protect our natural places.
The Lucy Morgan Award is named after a former pioneering Times journalist who passed away in September 2023 after nearly 50 years of government accountability and investigation reporting. Morgan and Jack Reed were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for the investigation of Pasco County Sheriff John Short.
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Her honorary award goes to journalists at the Tampa Bay Times, whose reports likewise make a difference within the community and within the Times.
“I saw her portrait every day at the Tallahassee Senate Gallery,” said Mahony, whom Morgan advised when he was first appointed as a political reporter. “It means she’s an absolute pioneer for female reporters, especially when it comes to covering state governments, and has her name on something like this.”
