Snapshot: South Florida Newspaper, TV station share an Emmy

All of us have been reading a lot about multimedia convergence this year. The culture in many of our newsrooms has changed as we've adapted to an environment that includes television cameras, videotape and tape recorders.

Convergence is not for everyone, but at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, it's been a part of our life for nearly 10 years in one form or another.

A significant signal that times are changing occurred last month when the Sun-Sentinel, along with our TV partner, won a regional Emmy Award for a television news package we produced in our newsroom.

That's right, our newsroom team received an Emmy!

This was certainly a first for us and something I haven't heard of during my more than 30 years in the newspaper industry.

At the Sun-Sentinel, we have developed complete in-house radio and TV production capabilities. Daily, we produce everything from live radio newscasts to complete turnkey news packages.

For our Emmy award-winning TV news feature, Sun-Sentinel reporter Sally Kestin, along with Joann Mracek and Joel Graff of our multimedia staff, teamed with reporter Ted Scouten of local CBS affiliate CBS4 to produce an in-depth look at pet overpopulation in South Florida kennels.

The report received a regional Emmy in the News/Public Affairs Segments category. The TV news package aired on CBS4 with Scouten on camera. It was shot by Graff and edited by Mracek, all of which complemented Kestin's Sun-Sentinel print feature.

Clearly, we are not in the business of winning awards. Our priority is to serve our readers - and viewers - and this recognition signified that we are having an impact.