{"id":182921,"date":"2025-08-28T19:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/182921\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T19:05:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:05:20","slug":"ken-knight-awards-honor-black-media-professionals-making-a-difference-in-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/182921\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Knight Awards honor Black media professionals making a difference in Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>2023 Ken Knights Awards (Dennis Ho,  Ken Knight Awards)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenknightawards.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.kenknightawards.com\/\">Ken Knight Awards<\/a> is bringing a night of Black excellence and celebration for the Jacksonville media professionals making a difference in the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">For the fifth year, the award ceremony, named after legendary broadcaster who broke radio and broadcasting barriers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/features\/2021\/02\/17\/ken-knight-helped-pave-the-way-for-african-americans-to-get-into-broadcast-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/features\/2021\/02\/17\/ken-knight-helped-pave-the-way-for-african-americans-to-get-into-broadcast-industry\/\">Adrian Kenneth Knight<\/a>, will take place on Thursday at WJCT Soundstage to honor the works of local journalists, producers, influencers and marketing professionals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">This year\u2019s award recipients include: <\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Melanie Lawson<\/b>\u00a0(WJXT) \u2014 Recognized for decades of excellence in broadcast journalism and as one of Jacksonville\u2019s most trusted voices in news.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Troy \u201cT-Roy\u201d Hadley <\/b>(93.3 The Beat)\u00a0 \u2014 Nationally recognized radio personality rooted in Jacksonville, engaging listeners and shaping culture across the airwaves.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Chris Porter <\/b>(First Coast News)\u00a0\u2014 Honored for dynamic sports reporting as Sports Director for First Coast News, telling the stories that unite and energize the community.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Nicky Sparrow<\/b>\u00a0(iHeartMedia) \u2014 Celebrated as Executive Vice President of Multicultural Sales for iHeartMedia, advancing innovation, equity, and representation in media leadership.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Erik Avanier<\/b>\u00a0(WJXT) \u2014 Recognized for impactful storytelling and integrity in coverage of issues that matter most to Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Rahman Johnson<\/b>\u00a0(Jacksonville City Council) \u2014 Recipient of the\u00a0<b>Ken Knight Legacy in Action Award<\/b>, honoring a lifelong dedication to media and ongoing service as a Jacksonville City Councilman using communication to inform and empower the community.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\">\n<p><b>Dana Michelle Maule <\/b>(Filmmaker &amp; Producer) \u2014 Recipient of the NABJ Jacksonville Award for Storytelling Excellence for her prior newsroom and PR experience and continued advocacy for local Black neighborhoods through \u201cMoncrief Springs: The Movie\u201d and the Northside Pride initiative.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Congratulations to all of the winners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The event is also in partnership with the Northeast Florida chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 nALdY copyright\">Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2023 Ken Knights Awards (Dennis Ho, Ken Knight Awards) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Ken Knight Awards is bringing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":182922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,718,8314,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-182921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-duval-county","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115107956216216191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}