WESH 2 News anchor Jim Payne is an award-winning journalist with roots in Wisconsin.

Jim received journalism's most prestigious honor, the George Foster Peabody Award, for his work on the month-long investigative series "Building Homes: Building Problems." The reports detailed problems with new home construction in Central Florida. He was also honored with an Alfred I. duPont Award for his work on the space shuttle Columbia disaster, and the Edward R. Murrow award for his work on the WESH 2 News documentary "Code Blue: Crisis in the ER," and two Emmys for special event coverage in 2001.

Jim has also earned numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Radio and TV News Directors Association, and he received the North Carolina Governor's Award for Community Service.

He was born in Green Bay, Wis., and attended Purdue University, earning a bachelor's degree in communications.

Jim is a member of the board of directors of Special Olympics Florida and works on the annual Holiday Heroes campaign for the Make- A-Wish Foundation of Central and northern Florida, and with fund-raising at the Edgewood Children's Ranch in Orlando.

When he's not working, Jim enjoys running, weight training, hockey, golf and spending time with his wife, Sharon. And one of his biggest challenges is keeping up with his sons, Jimmy and Michael.

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