10 June 27-July 3, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times b e s T o f m i a m i ® 2 0 2 4 To obtain this information in an accessible format, please call 305-514-6646. #DrainAndCoverMiami #FightTheBite @305Mosquito To report a mosquito nuisance, visit miamidade.gov/mosquito, call 311 or download our free 311 Direct Mobile App. ................................................ ................................................ BEST POWER COUPLE Braxton Berrios and Alix Earle tiktok.com/@alixearle There’s a fine line between cringe and cute — and unlike most TikTok couples, Braxton Ber- rios and Alix Earle are the latter. Berrios is a Miami Dolphins wide receiver, and Earle is a University of Miami grad who skyrocketed to TikTok fame with her Get Ready With Me (GRWM) videos (she currently boasts a whop- ping 6.6 million followers). A conventionally at- tractive, model-looking couple, it’s easy to see why people obsess over them. They’re like real- life Barbie and Ken dolls. But aside from being easy on the eyes, Berrios and Earle also seem to have an incredibly wholesome relationship, which they made official in November 2023. Earle often posts about quality time the duo spends with loved ones, like Berrios hosting the TikToker’s family and friends at his home for barbecues and sleepovers with Earle’s young siblings. Maybe it’s a big saccharine, but in a chaotic world, there’s nothing wrong with en- joying a bit of light, hopeful, eye-candy content. BEST FLACK Gino Campodonico arshtcenter.org instagram.com/ginocampodonico 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 in- terested 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 di- rector 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 coordina- tion 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. BEST HERALD PHOTOGRAPHER Al Diaz aldiaz.photoshelter.com When Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz reaches for a long lens, odds are the stunning im- ages that follow will tell stories that words can- not. Diaz has been on multiple Herald teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, including one in 2022 for coverage of the collapse of the Surfside Cham- plain Towers South condo that evoked horror around the nation. Diaz’s portfolio illustrates the impressive scale of his work and includes cele- bratory 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 Col- lege invited Diaz to be the guest of honor at the Kendall campus newsroom of the school newspa- per, 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.” BEST HERALD REPORTER Sarah Blaskey miamiherald.com/profile/218644930 x.com/Blaskey_S 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 col- leagues 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 lu- crative side gigs — including image-scrubbing for the Saudi Arabian government — make you the proverbial gift that keeps on giving to an in- vestigative reporter.) Blaskey was part of the re- porting 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 Mar- tha’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. BEST RADIO STATION WDNA-FM (88.9) 305-662-8889 wdna.org 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, be- cause 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 air- waves 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.
