The makings of a good flack are simple. You have to actually read the papers, consume media, and know what the publication — or writer — is interested in and what they typically cover. Don't cold email a writer with a pitch for something like "Hey! Did you know Miami was ranked as one of the cities with the most cracks on the sidewalk?" Enter Gino Campodonico, senior director of communications at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Campodonico is a class act in the public relations business. He not only tailors his pitches to the right reporters but is wicked fast with his replies and coordination of anything you need for a story. Plus, he's personable and always at the Arsht Center for opening night performances, ready to greet his reporters with un besito.

When Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz reaches for a long lens, odds are the stunning images that follow will tell stories that words cannot. Diaz has been on multiple Herald teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, including one in 2022 for coverage of the collapse of the Surfside Champlain Towers South condo that evoked horror around the nation. Diaz's portfolio illustrates the impressive scale of his work and includes celebratory shots from the 2024 Super Bowl, helmet-crushing plays by the Dolphins, and a smile from Pope Francis. His work is also powerful, like when he captured an image of a person waving an upside-down American flag during a George Floyd protest in downtown Miami with a police cruiser in the backdrop in flames. When he isn't working, Diaz takes life one click at a time. Last February, he spearheaded a two-day Chasing the Light expo in Miami that drew world-renowned photographers. And last year, Miami Dade College invited Diaz to be the guest of honor at the Kendall campus newsroom of the school newspaper, The Reporter. Immaculata-La Salle High School holds an annual student photography contest in honor of Diaz, a '76 grad. Students who email Diaz increase their shutter speed when he replies. His signature line reads: "May the best shot be yours."

We figured it was about time Sarah Blaskey was recognized with this honor. Blaskey, who joined the Herald in 2018, quickly became a household name for topnotch investigative journalism in the Sunshine State. Since then, she and her colleagues have turned over figurative slimy rocks to uncover muck involving local public officials. (Take a bow, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez; your penchant for pricey parties and junkets and lucrative side gigs — including image-scrubbing for the Saudi Arabian government — make you the proverbial gift that keeps on giving to an investigative reporter.) Blaskey was part of the reporting teams that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Champlain Towers South condo collapse in Surfside and a George Polk Award in the political reporting category for an investigation into the migrant airlifts to Martha's Vineyard orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In journalism, though, it seems every silver lining has its cloud: As we were preparing this issue to go to press, Blaskey announced she would be leaving the Herald to take a job at the Washington Post.

Since 1980, WDNA has been airing "serious jazz" for South Florida audiences at 88.9 FM on the radio dial. You no longer have to be within the proximity of their antenna to appreciate the width and breadth of their programming, because they stream worldwide on their website now, wdna.org. They spin blues records, world music, and their bread and butter, all that jazz — from bebop to fusion to Latin. The public radio station provides a welcome relief to local airwaves dominated by Clear Channel crap and pop songs stuck on repeat. WDNA does so much for this city. It opens minds to a diversity of sounds, keeps us updated on the local jazz scene, and lets us know about touring artists that make it to our neck of the woods.

He had style, he had flair, he was there, and that's how Layron Livingston became the best TV news reporter. News reporters go where the wind takes them for work, like traveling circus performers, and they eventually all come to adopt a recognizable, universal baritone. Livingston, however, scrapped that — and the suits — for a different approach. The young star on Local 10 is known to rock a T-shirt while on camera or look dapper with a three-piece beige suit to complement his just-the-facts-ma'am storytelling with his segment "Leave It to Layron." He can cut the stuffy air with a joke and a perfect smile that feels like he's talking just to you. Having anchored in Texas, Ohio's Miami, and now the Magic City, Livingston's demeanor and style are perfectly fitting for these tropics.

When it comes to Kristin Sanchez, host of NBC 6's midday lifestyle and entertainment show South Florida Live, the question is... what can't she do? She's a mom of three under three after welcoming twin girls in January. She's out and about in the community supporting the likes of Miss Arc Broward, Rebuilding Together Broward, and the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Sanchez is from Long Island, New York, went to college in Florida, and has called Fort Lauderdale home since 2018. In her six years here, she's zipped around town and accomplished as much as some South Florida lifers have. For her energy, pizzazz, and the voice she gives others, Sanchez really is the best.

Let's not beat around the bush — Mike Cugno isn't your typical sports anchor. As CBS Miami's lead sports anchor and host of multiple local shows, he looks as if he could suit up for just about any team in town. His energy for the local teams is infectious, and his delivery is down-to-earth with a tone that keeps you returning for more. Whether he's covering a Miami Dolphins preseason game or appearing on the 560 WQAM Hochman and Crowder show to give the play-by-play of trying a McDonald's McRib for the first time, Cugno has grown up in our living rooms, on our airwaves, and now, seems to be in his prime with decades left in the tank. We wouldn't be surprised if, in 30 years, we're writing something similar, gushing about how the best sports anchor in town is still outworking the competition and looking frustratingly handsome doing it.

She's covered big-time weather events in Denver, Tennessee, and West Virginia. And, since 2022, boy, we're glad to have Chelsea Ambriz giving us the scoop here in Miami. From looming South Florida hurricane threats to that wild once-in-a-millennium storm that pummeled Fort Lauderdale last year, Ambriz keeps it as real as it gets alongside her NBC 6 First Alert Weather colleagues. Part of that realness is her Midwestern charm and passion for the South Florida community. She hails from Indianapolis and, locally, is an active member of the Junior League of Miami, regularly volunteering with a women's shelter, food rescue organization, and more. A big-time local foodie, event-goer, and proud cat mom, she's also a blast to follow on Instagram. A perfect storm led Ambriz to Miami, and we're glad those winds carried her here.

Third Cinema, the '60s-'70s political film movement out of Latin America and Africa, decried neocolonialism and capitalism and aimed to revolutionize film. Third Horizon Film Festival channels that ethos with a focus on the future and an eye on the islands. Celebrating its seventh year, the organization highlights the rich and vibrant cinematic arts of the Caribbean and its diaspora. It uses film to speak truth to power and disrupt norms that simply just do not work for everyone. It's a big idea, and each year its filmmakers and crews bring it to life with screenings, discussions, and special events that spotlight some of the world's most fascinating films. Third Horizon uses and enhances Miami's position as a global gateway to reach its audiences, sparking conversations around cinema, community, and culture as it celebrates and empowers filmmakers — and Miami's creatives.

Public art brings culture to everyone, and it brings people together. Germane Barnes' Ukhamba, an installation outside of the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, accomplishes both things. Ukhamba asks Miami not just to look but to sit and stay with each other. The architect and designer worked on the piece as part of a commission by the Museum of Art and Design's (MOAD) second-annual MOAD Pavilions series and was first unveiled ahead of last year's Miami Book Fair International. The 32-foot-wide, ten-foot-tall structure resembles a large woven basket and was inspired by Barnes' time living in Cape Town, South Africa. In a recent Miami New Times interview, Barnes said, "All the work that I do is always about inviting people and always about communal spaces."