The Florida Press Club has given Sunline the 1996 1st-Place award for General Excellence in Online Services. This was the first year that the Florida newspaper organization gave out an award for an Internet product. Sunline beat out the major city daily newspapers competing for the award because of Sunline's community sites.
Most newspapers simply place their paper online every night.
Sunline, a division of the Sun Herald newspapers and the Venice Gondolier, does that, too, but also places the community online for free. Sunline's community pages include the Charlotte County Community Pages and the Venice Community Pages. Sunline plans to soon debut community pages for North Port, Englewood and Sarasota County. Taking 2nd place in the Florida Press Club state competition for General Excellence in Online Services was the Gainesville Sun's Eclipse. Taking 3rd was the Bradenton Herald's BHIP .