Florida Today's Space Coverage Wins Online Journalism Award

The Florida Today space coverage, winner of the 2007 Online News Association's Online Journalism Award for small beat reporting, is impressive considering how niche the subject matter is.

The site would benefit from a more appealing design aesthetic (they've gone plaid). Also, the layout is cluttered, and finding articles within the space section of the Florida Today website isn't as straightforward as it should be. A poor layout and unattractive design do nothing to generate interest in a topic that is largely ignored by the public (no "pop" stars in space...only Patrick Stewart).

However, the award Florida Today received was not for visual design, it was for reporting, and the wealth of content bordered on overwhelming. A video gallery compiling footage of various shuttle launches, a number of televised news reports, and videos about satelites and deep space missions, is accessible from the main page.

A video about Dawn, a satellite scientists will use to study Vesta, an astroid, and the dwarf planet Ceres (both believed to have formed early in the development of our solar system) in order to gain insights into how solar systems form, was particularly interesting. The video explained how the satellite's onboard instruments will be used to study Vesta and Ceres.

There are two interactive features in addition to the videos already described. The first interactive feature is titled "9 Minutes to Space," (followed by 7 minutes in heaven) and details the time between a shuttle launching and then escaping the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere. The other interactive feature is about the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It boasts interactive photos taken by satellites, webcam feeds, a number of written articles, and both video and photo galleries with content specific to the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The only subject missing from Florida Today's space coverage is astrophysics. This is a disappointment because astrophysics is a fundemental part of all space related research (nerd-gasm thwarted). However, the breadth of Florida Today's coverage makes up for the lack of information concerning the theoretical side of astronomy.