Special Report: Gayle Sierens Celebrates 30 Years At WFLA-TV

Gayle Sierens co-anchors News Channel 8's "News Channel 8 at 5", 6 and 11PM newscasts. Sierens joined the Channel 8 staff in 1977 as a weekend sports anchor/reporter and became the 11PM weekday sports anchor in March of 1983. In addition to these responsibilities, she freelanced as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN, the cable sports network. In October of 1985, Sierens made the transition from sportscaster to news anchor.

In 1984, Sierens was honored with a Florida Emmy Award for sports reporting. In 1991, as a news anchor, she won her second Emmy for news reporting.

Prior to joining WFLA-TV, Sierens was with WFSU-TV in Tallahassee, Florida. She received a B.S. degree in mass communications with a minor in speech communications from Florida State University.

Currently, she is on the board of directors of the Judeo-Christian Health Clinic as well as the Boy's and Girl's Clubs of Greater Tampa. She also serves as chairperson for the Big Brother's/Big Sister's annual "Bowl for Kids' Sake" fundraiser.

Sierens was the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL football game and also appeared on "NFL Live" on NBC.

Gayle was the winner of the Florida Holocausts Museums "Loebenberg Humanitarian Award." She was also named Humanitarian of the Year by the Judeo Christian Health Clinic. The Association of Fundraising Professionals created the "Gayle Sierens Volunteer of the Year" award in her honor. She was named a "Woman of Distinction" by Girl Scouts of America, Suncoast chapter. She also serves on the Advisory Boards for Elon University's School of Communication, Village Partners International, and the Junior League of Tampa. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio also proclaimed January 7th, 2007 Gayle Sierens Day in honor of her 30 year anniversary with WFLA TV.

She lives in Tampa with her husband Mike and their three children.