Writer Isaac Eger’s well-researched Sarasota Magazine story about public beach access, “Who Owns Florida’s Beaches?,” won a Folio Eddie award at a ceremony in New York City last night. The Eddie & Ozzie Awards is one of the most prestigious recognitions in the publishing community, with thousands of applications received from around the world.

“Who Owns Florida's Beaches?” revealed that Floridians’—and visitors’—ability to stroll their beloved beaches is now in jeopardy as private property owners erect signs, construct barriers and hire security guards, and as elected officials pass new state and local laws that erode public access. Eger interviewed homeowners, beachgoers and legal experts in an investigative piece that outlined the complicated legal issues and elected officials’ lack of oversight in protecting the public’s right to the beach.

This article also won a first place Florida Magazine Association Charlie Award, the 2021 Parker Thomson Award for Outstanding Legal Journalism, and a Sunshine State Award for Investigative Reporting from the Florida Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and was selected as one of the best pieces of longform journalism of the week by Longform. Read it here.