2018 California Journalism Awards Open Contest winners

Below is the list of the 2018 California Journalism Awards winners for publications in the the "Best of the Best" Open Contest — the first-place winners from all circulation and audience divisions in the Print and Digital contests in Columns, Enterprise News Story or Series, Feature Photo, Feature Story, In-Depth Reporting, Investigative Reporting, News Photo, Public Service Journalism.

Category	Publication	Entry Title	Credits	Judge's Comments
Columns	The Recorder	A Criminal Waste of Space	William Bedsworth	Well written, humorous and informative
Enterprise News Story or Series	San Francisco Chronicle	150 Minutes of Hell	Lizzie Johnson, Guy Wathen, Lucio Villa, Evan Wagstaff	Stunning blend of words and images. Smart storytelling with exceptional writing and powerful use of video. This entry was in class by itself. A multimedia tour de force. Bravo.
Feature Photo	Thousand Oaks Acorn	Long Trip Down	Michael Coons	Photographer had amazing timing and terrific composition.
Feature Story	San Francisco Chronicle	150 Minutes of Hell	Lizzie Johnson, Guy Wathen, Lucio Villa, John Blanchard	"150 Minutes of Hell" has you on the edge of your seat from the opening horrifying sound of wind and the glow of fire. With every new chapter you wonder who will live and who will die. The animated maps, video and audio make Lizzie Johnson's powerful narrative even more spellbinding. "150 Minutes o Hell" is in a class of its own.
In-Depth Reporting	San Francisco Chronicle	The Miracle Cell	Erin Allday, Joaquin Palomino, Audrey DeBruine, Manjula Varghese	From conception to writing, graphics and display, this is a superb series. A heavy topic was made accessible through poetic writing and smart visual storytelling. This is an unusually talented team of journalists who put readers first.
Investigative Reporting	The Mercury News/East Bay Times	Burned Out	Thomas Peele, Harriet Blair Rowan	Uncovered a frightening hole in safety for thousands.
News Photo	Taft Midway Driller	Firefighters on roof	Doug Keeler	Incredible angle. Photographer could not have captured a better image.
Public Service Journalism	Los Angeles Times	A Scandal at USC	Harriet Ryan, Matt Hamilton, Paul Pringle	Overcoming entrenched stakeholders, The Times was able to thoroughly uncover all sides of a story many wanted to keep hidden.