.jpg)
The Florida Press Club has awarded Headline Surfer Publisher Henry Frederick more awards in the 2012 contest than any other journalist for his array of investigative stories, in-depth blogs and the website itself. Among his award-winning work was his investigative story on the controversial promotion of Daytona Beach Police Lt. Jim Newcombe, shown left, despite his alleged mistreatment of women cops under his command, an exclusive interview with Trayvon Martin's parents at a Miami rally and his childhood memories of watching the Daytona 500 and as a reporter covering the races.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Four years after launching Florida's first 24/7 Internet newspaper, the brand of journalism practiced by Henry Frederick that combines old-fashioned shoe leather in working sources and checking public records with 21st technology, has resulted in an award-winning media operation.
Frederick, the editor and publisher of Headline Surfer, has won four awards in the 2012 Florida Press Club journalism contest. He was recognized for five stories and three blogs in the categories of General News writing, Public Safety reporting, Blog Writing and Best Online Presence (combined with social media).
The four awards were the most in the competition for any one contestant. In all, there were 40 categories for which journalists throughout the Sunshine State could enter their best work. The awards will be handed out at a dinner Saturday night in Brevard County.
Frederick also accomplished the rare feat of having a story recognized in two different award categories in the same contest, in this case "General News" and "Public Safety," for his investigative story published May 14 and headlined, "Daytona police chief promotes patrol supervisor who taunted female cop for more than a year."
Frederick's investigative report had Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood on the ropes for his promotion of Jim Newcombe, from lieutenant to captain, despite his alleged mistreatment of women cops under his command going back a decade.
Among Frederick's other winning entries in "General News" writing was his story-video package published April 3, and headlined, "Trayvon Martin's parents in exclusive interview after Miami rally: 'We are not alone in this fight for justice.'"
Frederick drove all the way to Miami in hopes of securing an interview with Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of slain teen Trayvon Martin, shot and killed in Sanford. Despite dozens of media representatives at the big rally, Frederick was the only reporter to get the exclusive.
Frederick's interview was only the second granted by the parents following an interview with the Miami Herald a couple weeks earlier. To this day, Frederick is the only Central Florida media representative to have interviewed the parents face to face. And Frederick is the only media representative from Volusia County who has attended the pre-trial hearings for Zimmerman. By doing so, he has secured a courtroom seat for the upcoming trial, if there is one.
Another of Frederick's public safety stories was his published May 6, 2011, story, headlined, "Ex-Oak Hill Mayor: Embattled Police Chief Diane Young not only snorted coke and smoked pot, but also popped ludes," which was an earlier segment of his year-long-plus investigative series, "Oak Hill Cops: Cocaine, Corruption & Chaos."
Frederick wrote dozens of stories that led to the disbanding of the police force last summer in favor of coverage from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
Besides the DBPD captain promotion and the exclusive interview with Trayvon Martin's parents, Frederick's third and final story in the General News category was published Nov. 15, 2011, and headlined "Young biker living life to fullest tragically killed in New Smyrna Beach."
The story looked at the freak motorcycle accident in New Smyrna Beach that led to the death of 25-year-old Chris Dell of Edgewater, who lived life to the fullest on his own terms. The story was the opposite of being judgmental and showed the sacredness of an individual's life and what this young man meant to others.
The public learned Oak Hill Police Chief Diane Young's drug past was even more extensive thanks to extensive reporting by Henry Frederick that eventually led to the police force being disbanded. Chris Dell, 25 , shown in the middle photo, lived life to the fullest before he was killed in a freak motorcycle accident. And the tragic circumstances of a series of deadly motorcycle crashes during Bike Week was illustrated by the death of Orlando firefighter Dannis Bish.
In addition to the DBPD captain promotion and the Oak Hill police chief's drug past, Frederick's third story in the Public Safety category, headlined "Daytona Beach's Bike Week 2012 road fatalities stretch out to Pierson," published March 12, 2012, highlighted the death of Dannis Bish.
The 54-year-old Orlando firefighter struck and killed on his Harley, just blocks from his home by a 16-year-old female driver in a brand new Mustang who made an improper turn. His wife was critically injured. They had returned from the Cabbage Patch cole slaw wrestling in Samsula after it had rained and were urged by a friend on Facebook earlier to be careful returning home.
In the category of blog writing Frederick's three winning blogs dealt with his personal relationship with his father, his look back at the good ol' days of Daytona 500 races and a video he saw on YouTube that inspired a column for Memorial Day.
The video above shows a flyover of Berlin at the end of World War II, which after watching it on YouTube inspired Frederick to write a Memorial Day blog. In the photo at left is Frederick at the tender age of 2 with his father, Henry Frederick Jr., in another award-winning blog, "Father Knows Best."
Frederick touched on a personal relationship in his blog published June 17, and headlined, "Father knows best even if it takes half a lifetime to see that," in which he resented his dad being over bearing in wanting him to succeed from the time he was a small child, through college and well into his career and family life. At the age of 50, Frederick realized how important his father was and is to him.
In his May 28 blog, headlined, "Memorial Day: The Lessons of the Berlin Wall," Frederick was inspired to write after watching a short YouTube video called "Berlin 1945, a Terrible Sight," showing a flyover of the German capital in the days following the end of World War II. It was the sound of bells in the video that touched him more than anything else.
While paying homage to the victims of the Holocaust, Frederick also recognized the suffering of Germans for their decades under Communist rule. Though he is not of German descent despite his German last name (his heritage is Italian and Portuguese), Frederick's stories and blogs have a continued strong following to this day in Germany
His final blog entry recognized in the Blog writing category was "NASCAR Hall of Fame announcement fuels memories of 1979 Daytona 500, published June 15, 2011, that looked at his memories of the Daytona 500 when he was a kid growing up in the 1970s, including the 1979 race that included fisticuffs and a big crash at the end.
And Frederick's Internet newspaper was recognized as among the top three sites in the award for "Best Online Presence (combined with social media)." Headline Surfer is among the few 24/7 Internet newspapers whose stories, blogs and images are included in Google's News Directories worldwide. As a result, Headline Surfer's content is accessed by thousands of Internet users around the clock and its content found at or near the top of the major search engines.
Frederick launched Headline Surfer initially as NSBNews.net, on April 7, 2008, here in New Smyrna Beach serving this community as well as Edgewater and Oak Hill, with the help of his friend Peter Mallory. Within a year, VolusiaNews.net was added as a secondary name and the coverage extended throughout Volusia County.
Mallory won the very first award for NSBNews.net for blog writing in the 2011 Florida Press Club competition. Mallory passed away in June at the age of 77 after selling his share to Frederick.
Earlier this year, a registered trademark was sought by Frederick called "Headline Surfer." That trademark was approved last month, allowing Frederick to make "Headline Surfer" the umbrella name for his 24/7 Internet newspaper, accessed via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net.
Frederick has won numerous journalism awards since the mid-1990s in a career dating back to the mid-1980s. He's won more than a dozen such awards covering news in the Daytona Beach area, including the James K. Batten award for Outstanding Public Service for his 1997 investigative series on life in Spring Hill, his witnessing the 2002 execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos and the lawsuit brought by Dale Earnahardt's widow to keep her late husband's autopsy photos sealed from the media after he was killed in the 2001 running of the Daytona 500.
Frederick's last awards prior to this were six years ago when he worked as a city editor of the Taunton (Ma.) Daily Gazette for nearly two years, flying back and forth to Florida and his family when he could.
He led the entire newsroom staff in developing a 5-day series, "Safety in our schools." The series won first place in enterprise reporting/public service in the 2006 New England Press Association contest. He also helped a reporter win a 2005 NEPA award for a 3-day investigative series "Pipeline Hell." The reporter and Frederick shared a national award in "investigative journalism" in the 2005 Suburban Newspapers of America for the series that tracked a shady developer's housing development that led to his being jailed.
Here are the winning entries in the 2012 Florida Press Club contest
GENERAL NEWS
PUBLIC SAFETY
BLOG WRITING