To protect and serve the common interests of its newsmedia members, to help members inform and thereby strengthen their communities, and to foster the highest ideals, ethics and traditions of journalism, a free press and the news profession.
The table below displays the 2019 California Journalism Awards Print Contest winners by category.
The table is sortable by the column headers (Category, Award, Publication, Entry Title, Credits and Judge’s Comments) but you probably want to zero in on your own publication. The easiest way to do that is to use the search box to type in the name of your publication.
A search will begin as soon as you start typing in the box. The more specific you are, the faster you’ll find your results.
First-place and second-place plaques will be shipped directly to the winning publications in a few weeks.
Personalized certificates will also be mailed to winners in each category.
| Category | Award | Publication | Entry Title | Credits | Judge’s Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Excellence | 1st | The San Diego Union-Tribune | Sept. 22 & 23, 2019 | San Diego Union-Tribune Staff | All local front page. Incredible jail death package. Really good local stories. Nice use of language. The Back Story on Page 2 is a great idea. Lots of local, paired with plenty of wire. Profiles. Local editorial. Solid opinion section. Love the cartoon caption contest. Pet obituaries! Robust comic pages. Massive Padres coverage. Arts & Culture pages are well done. Some very lovely, enticing ads. |
| General Excellence | 2nd | San Francisco Chronicle | Sept. 14 & 15, 2019 | San Francisco Chronicle Staff | Nice centerpiece on the vintners, good sports perspective. Lots of AP, but relevant. Liked the Last Word faceoff. Business has some good stories and is easier to read. Fallen hero story was powerful. Some good graphics and photos. Nice local color with Nolte. The more local ads seemed to be well done. Lots of wire. Climate package was great. Loved the Q&A. Good photos. Good examination of mixed up runways. Riveting firefighter rescue story. Local opinion was good in Yes and No format. Local editorial cartoon. Sunday had local edit, and liked Parting Shots. Bay Area section was chock-full. Huge Life Tributes pages. Amazing Posey photos in sports. Some great stories in Food & Wine. Straw story was interesting and readable. Good job on Datebook in both content, ads and layout. Good Sunday sports pages. An Outdoors reporter! Good local business centerpiece. Several other local pieces. Food & Wine is well done. Witty plastic straw story. Noise story is a public service. Delorean hovercraft? Loved the features in the Style section, including the 49-mile manifesto. Essential for the area. |
| General Excellence | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Feb. 2 & 3, 2019 | Los Angeles Times Staff | Nice spread on Navajo drought: Photos are outstanding. CHP story was well told. Excellent supervisors story. Ads are OK. Some pages were a bit gray. Good variety of letters. Liked the Numbers and Letters stats and that there was some art on the pages. California page is varied. Mostly crime news on City & State cover. Lots of business news, good sports column on stadiums. Sports editorial cartoon and lots of letters. Entertaining Calendar section. Theater review! Saturday cover is very colorful and inviting, if not a bit confusing. Restaurant review. Super Bowl section has super graphic on front. Tons of information and features on plenty. Rosters, good and fun graphics and stats. They went all in on this and I bet the fans appreciated it. Robust real estate section with Hot Properties tab. Tijuana package on the next day is massive, well-told and displayed. Well-spoken and reasoned editorials on Trump and the border and LA jail vs. hospitals. Several columns on Sunday. Fun Science File about the other rams around town. Page layout is dandy, although occasional dog legs and gray areas. Many pages the same layout. I like how many sections have their own letters. Fun Sundance photos. Arts & Books section! And Travel. If I lived in California, I would subscribe. Chock-full of news you need, want and never knew you could have. |
| General Excellence | 4th | The Orange County Register | Feb. 3 & 4, 2019 | Orange County Register Staff | Aquarium of the Pacific story is witty. Loved the pets section. Restaurant closures! Lots of wire. Huge sports section. Comprehensive Super Bowl preview section, including a good column on CTE. Nice Rams Depth Chart graphic. Great graphics, overall. Abrupt switch to lifestyles in section. Halftime story was fun. Two editorials and lots of local views. Beautifully laid out Lunar New Year section. Nice ads. Good variety of features. Excellent day-after headline for Super Bowl! |
| General Excellence | 5th | The Sacramento Bee | Sept. 26 & 27, 2019 | Sacramento Bee Staff | Missing Five is solid and intriguing. Lots of wire. Local editorial on the first day. Good local and state reporting. |
| General Excellence | 1st | The Bakersfield Californian | Sept. 28 & 29, 2019 | Bakersfield Californian Staff | Clean design, good use of typography. Great sense of place, and personality carries throughout. |
| General Excellence | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Feb. 9 & 10, 2019 | Desert Sun Staff | The Desert Sun conveys a sense of place and has a clean design and compelling ads throughout. |
| General Excellence | 3rd | The Press Democrat | Sept. 28 & 29, 2019 | Press Democrat Staff | The Press Democrat really allows photos to shine. It offers a good mix of local and national news, but it lets stories run long, with few opportunities for the reader to catch his breath. |
| General Excellence | 4th | Antelope Valley Press | Sept. 19 & 20, 2019 | Antelope Valley Press Staff | |
| General Excellence | 5th | The Fresno Bee | Feb. 23 & 24, 2019 | Fresno Bee Staff | |
| General Excellence | 1st | The Tribune | Feb. 2 & 3, 2019 | Tribune Staff | Clearly the best of the field. Solid local content, and the design and photo usage is top-notch. |
| General Excellence | 2nd | Marin Independent Journal | Feb. 15 & 16, 2019 | Jen Swartz, Robert Sterling, Gary Klien, Joe Konte | Good local content and coverage of a breaking event makes this entry stand out. Appropriate use of good, local photos. |
| General Excellence | 3rd | Napa Valley Register | Sept. 3 & 4, 2019 | Napa Valley Register Staff | Nice front-page package is the stand-out here. |
| General Excellence | 4th | Santa Maria Times | Sept. 21 & 22, 2019 | Santa Maria Times Staff | Lots of good, if not spectacular, local content. Good use of photos and a solid sports section. |
| General Excellence | 5th | Chico Enterprise-Record | Feb. 27 & 28, 2019 | Enterprise-Record Staff | The look and feel of this paper is nice, but I'd like to see more meat to its local coverage. More in-depth reads would have elevated this entry. |
| General Excellence | 1st | Good Times | Sept. 11 & 18, 2019 | Steve Palopoli, Lauren Hepler, Tabi Zarrinnaal, Good Times Staff | This entry stood out for the excellent presentation, writing, story choices and quality of the photography. The advertising was attractive and engaging. |
| General Excellence | 2nd | Sacramento News & Review | Feb. 7 & 14, 2019 | Sacramento News & Review Staff | |
| General Excellence | 3rd | SF Weekly | Feb. 7 & 14, 2019 | Richard Procter, Peter Kane | |
| General Excellence | 4th | Monterey County Weekly | Feb. 21 & 28, 2019 | Monterey County Weekly Staff | |
| General Excellence | 5th | Chico News & Review | Feb. 7 & 14, 2019 | Melissa Daugherty, Tina Flynn, Meredith J. Cooper, Jason Cassidy | |
| General Excellence | 1st | Comstock's Magazine | August & September 2019 | Tom Couzens, Sena Christian, Kelly Barr, Shoka | Comstock's Magazine is beautifully designed throughout, both ad and news pages. This is one gorgeous magazine. The August issue on construction was breath-taking and presented sense of place in a whole new way. |
| General Excellence | 2nd | San Francisco Business Times | Sept. 13 & 20, 2019 | San Francisco Business Times Staff | Lots of names and faces in San Francisco Business Times. Leads section sets this apart from all competitors in this category. |
| General Excellence | 3rd | Auburn Journal | Sept. 18 & 22, 2019 | Bill Sullivan, Nick Peccaro, Traci Newell, Gus Thomson | The Auburn Journal is local, local, local from first page to last with a strong variety of beats and sense of place. Impressive that the Journal is soliciting nominations for Women in Business after just publishing its Home Show special section. |
| General Excellence | 4th | North Coast Journal | Sept. 19 & 26, 2019 | North Coast Journal Staff | The news in North Coast Journal matches the community and the advertisers. This is one fun read, and a publication that makes bold decision such as the comic book issue and the taglines that include descriptive pronouns. |
| General Excellence | 5th | Tracy Press | Sept. 20 & 27, 2019 | Will Fleet, Melanie Smith, Lisa Cracraft, Tracy Press Staff | The Tracy Press has a strong sense of place. Its obits and milestone ads are lovingly presented. Nice to see so many Classified ads, and even nicer that they are so much fun to read. The Tracy Press is full of clip and keep news. |
| General Excellence | 1st | Ledger Dispatch | Sept. 20 & 24, 2019 | Jack Mitchell, Jeremy Malamed, Rachel Norris, Sarah Tullus | |
| General Excellence | 2nd | North Bay Business Journal | Feb. 4 & 11, 2019 | Elissa Torres, Jeff Quackenbush, Cheryl Sarfaty, Chase DiFeliciantonio | |
| General Excellence | 3rd | Del Mar Times | Sept. 5 & 12, 2019 | Del Mar Times Staff | |
| General Excellence | 4th | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Feb. 7 & 14, 2019 | Petaluma Argus-Courier Staff | |
| General Excellence | 5th | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Sept. 10 & 17, 2019 | Sonoma Index-Tribune Staff | |
| General Excellence | 1st | The Ark | Sept. 18 & 25, 2019 | Ark Staff | |
| General Excellence | 2nd | St. Helena Star | Sept. 5 & 12, 2019 | David Stoneberg, Jesse Duarte | |
| General Excellence | 3rd | The Trinity Journal | Feb. 13 & 20, 2019 | Trinity Journal Staff | |
| General Excellence | 4th | Half Moon Bay Review | Sept. 4 & 11, 2019 | Half Moon Bay Review Staff | |
| General Excellence | 5th | Ojai Valley News | Sept. 13 & 20, 2019 | Laura Rearwin Ward, Perry Van Houten, Marianne Ratcliff, Austin Widger | |
| Public Service Journalism | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Vanishing Violence | Joaquin Palomino, Jill Tucker, Evan Sernoffsky | Powerful reporting, photos and graphics that produced almost instant results. Great statewide sweep. Reporters did not shy away from the fact that many of these people committed horrible crimes, but they humanized people who'd only been known as "super predators." And it wasn't just retrospective. The story about juveniles being locked up for long periods for misdemeanors raised troubling questions about current practices. |
| Public Service Journalism | 2nd | The Sacramento Bee | UC Davis Band Investigation | Molly Sullivan, Ryan Sabalow, Paul Kitagaki | Wow. A seemingly beloved local institution that countenanced shockining, even criminal behavior for years. Bravo to the women who stepped forward to tell their stories, and the reporters who made it possible. |
| Public Service Journalism | 3rd | The Press Democrat | Coverage of homeless camp on Joe Rodota Trail | Press Democrat Staff | Compelling, in-depth coverage of one community wrestling with a problem that is both chronic and worsening. |
| Public Service Journalism | 4th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | The fight for SB1421: Bringing police misconduct into the light | Thomas Peele, Cecily Burt, Robert Salonga, Nate Gartrell | Reporting that highlighted shocking behavior kept secret from the people law enforcement is supposed to protect. Some of the cases may have been old, but the results were immediate: police officers resigning, criminal convictions being dropped. I appreciate how they continued to hold agencies accountable for not releasing information despite laws and court rulings that said they had to. |
| Public Service Journalism | 5th | The Desert Sun | Misery at the Oasis: Arsenic contamination, dump fire reveal serious environmental health hazards on tribal land | Nicole Hayden, Ricardo Lopez, Omar Ornelas, Jay Calderon | |
| Public Service Journalism | 1st | Chico Enterprise-Record | Never to be forgotten: The Camp Fire a year later | Chico Enterprise-Record Staff | A powerful effort from the Chico Enterprise-Record grips you from the first page, with a collage of photos showing all who had died in the devastating Camp Fire. The newspaper put faces to the tragedy and gave readers a full sense of the trying year following the fire. There are stories of people who stayed, stories of people who left. The special edition included a related editorial, cartoon and letter to the editor. The presentation and reporting about the coverage bridge reconstruction was a nice touch. In sum, this was a remarkable journalistic effort. Sometimes the best public service a newspaper can provide is perspective. |
| Public Service Journalism | 2nd | The Tribune | Bad air from the Oceano Dunes forces people inside. Is it a crisis or exaggeration? | Monica Vaughan, David Middlecamp, Stephanie Finucane | There are so many things to appreciate about this project from The Tribune detailing bad air quality at the Oceano Dunes. The newspaper hosted a public forum to inform local residents of the problem and answer questions. The interactive digital map of which areas are most affected was surely helpful to those who live there. The transparency offered from beginning to end, explaining how the reporting came together with help from the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, helps readers understand what it took to make this reporting possible. This is how issues and solutions journalism should be done. |
| Public Service Journalism | 3rd | Record Searchlight | Fuel for our Fires | Damon Arthur, David Benda, Mike Chapman, Randall Hauser | The public service element of this entry was made clear from the first headline: Is your home at risk? The Record Searchlight made an interesting decision to collaborate with a tech firm to report this important story. The interactive maps and charts presented the issue in a clean way. The transparency in explaining how the project came together is commendable, as is the way this newspaper encouraged readers to support the reporting by subscribing. |
| Public Service Journalism | 4th | Visalia Times-Delta | What role did Tulare County's mental health system play in this unsolved murder? | Sheyanne Romero | Sheyanne Romero's reporting of a tough issue told through one family's story may have positive affects on how one county handles its mentally ill residents. Compelling writing made this entry stand out. |
| Public Service Journalism | 5th | Los Angeles Daily Journal | Exposure of government fraud led to resignations | Justin Kloczko | Sometimes government fraud is out there, but it takes a dogged reporter to keep searching and put the pieces together. This is one of those cases, with Justin Kloczko detailing for a knowing, specialized audience the major collusion involving the LA City Attorney's office. Best of all, Kloczko's reporting got results and helped to rid the city of these bad actors. |
| Public Service Journalism | 1st | Chico News & Review | Post-Camp Fire water contamination | Meredith J. Cooper, Melissa Daugherty | Impressive effort here -- constant, dogged attention on an important public health issue that might otherwise be easy for the community to ignore given all the other recent developments in that area. |
| Public Service Journalism | 2nd | The Almanac | Uneven Ground | Kate Bradshaw | |
| Public Service Journalism | 3rd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Our community suffered a mass shooting. Here's what happened next | Thousand Oaks Acorn Staff | |
| Public Service Journalism | 4th | The Salinas Californian | Fundraising for your own funeral | Kate Cimini | |
| Public Service Journalism | 5th | Lamorinda Weekly | Fire & Fury - Dealing with the New Normal | Jennifer Wake, Vera Kochan, Cynthia Brian, Nick Marnel | |
| Public Service Journalism | 1st | La Canada Valley Sun | Full coverage: Devil's Gate Dam sediment removal project | Sara Cardine | Excellent job keeping on top of a story obviously important to the community. Appreciated the depth of the coverage. |
| Public Service Journalism | 2nd | Glendale News-Press | ‘We’re just stuck here’: Montrose seniors stranded for a week in facility with no elevator | Lila Seidman | This may seem like a small thing, but it's a good example of a reporter bringing to light an issue important to the disadvantaged. Writing is solid. |
| Public Service Journalism | 3rd | The Business Journal | Clovis Unified's Opioid Crisis | Donald Promnitz | Solid coverage of an important and growing issue. |
| Public Service Journalism | 4th | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | "The $80 Million Man," "Developer Face Backlash Over LGBTQ Views," "Anti-Gay Comments Paint Troubling Picture" | Lorna Sheridan | Nice job holding developers accountable. I'm sure readers appreciated knowing the beliefs of those buying up land in their city. |
| Public Service Journalism | 5th | Lincoln News Messenger | Lincoln's teens and young adults not immune to vaping-related illnesses | Shaden Solanji, Carol Feineman | Good job on an important topic. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Man in the Window | Paige St. John | Excellent, compelling report that will keep readers engaged throughout the entire story. Impressive visual research and presentation. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | San Francisco Chronicle | 24 Hours of Homelessness | San Francisco Chronicle Staff | The alternative presentation gives readers choices in how to read, what to read. Very strong photographs. It's a thorough view of the city's challenging issue and impact. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Mexico's homicide crisis | Kate Linthicum, Gary Coronado, Jessica Q. Chen | Excellent series of articles that likely were done at great risk to the reporters and photographers. Each entry was very well researched and reported. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Second Chance P.D. | Laurence Du Sault, Katey Rusch | The investigative reporting is so well done here. The stories should prod authorities to change a system that is failing citizens. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | The Modesto Bee | Straight Pride rally stirs monthlong controversy in Modesto | Modesto Bee Staff | The Modesto Bee's coverage of a straight pride rally covered the run-up to the rally exhaustively — 18 stories in 30 days. The coverage was fair and honest. Every day it took a new turn. I'm betting that readers eagerly awaited the next day's Bee to see how the story was unfolding. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Homeless in the Coachella Valley | Nicole Hayden, Jay Calderon, Vickie Connor | The Desert Sun's homeless investigation was deeply reported. The print special report was storytelling at its finest and the best writing in category. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Drilling deep on California's oil regulators | Janet Wilson, Evan Wyloge, Julie Makinen | The Desert Sun's drilling investigation had the most actionable response of any entry: Leadership and policy change of oil regulations. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | The Modesto Bee | Policing Themselves: MPD has fired five cops over dishonesty ... | Erin Tracy, Kevin Valine | The Modesto Bee shed light on policing with great detail. What sets this story apart was the Bee's clear explanation of what they sought and why, and the promise of its next investigative focus. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 5th | The Press Democrat | Rebuild North Bay — Coverage of Sonoma County's recovery from the 2017 wildfires | Press Democrat Staff | The Press Democrat's 12 monthly special reports on the Tubb fire is a marvel of planning and organization. These reporters know their beats and what's important to the community. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | Napa Valley Register | Pathway Home shooting, one year later | Napa Valley Register Staff | A horrific story beautifully told. The reporting was comprehensive and presented for maximum impact. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | Napa Valley Register | Costs of Living | Courtney Teague, Danielle Fox, Sean Scully | Solid, compelling occasional series. I liked that she talked to so many different people from different perspectives. I especially liked that she had a "what to do" article. Clear writing and excellent editing makes this easy to read, even though the topic is a bit hard. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | The Record | Falling through the net | Joe Goldeen | Safety net:Well done! Good examples and lots of digging to find people, statistics and framing the issue. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | The Record | Alzheimer's long goodbye | Bob Highfill | Great examples of the toll it takes on the family and how they cope and pay for the medical care needed. Liked the daughter who had to worry about the hereditary factor with so many relatives affected. Offered some examples to get help. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 5th | Chico Enterprise-Record | Inhaled | Robin Epley | Good job explaining the damage polluted air does going through your system. Needed more attribution early on. This package is chock-full of interesting and powerful information, but it's a bit textbook style with facts just there for you to believe. Tons of research here and, for the most part, pretty well told. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Surviving Borderline | Dawn Megli | Essential first-person stories from the people that lived through a tragedy and survived to tell their tales. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Borderline: One Year Later | Dawn Megli, Becca Whitnall | A compelling look at how a community continues to recover from a tragedy, paired with strong story-telling that draws in the reader. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | Sacramento News & Review | A grisly murder. An illegal confession. A 20-year fight to be free. | Raheem Hosseini | Wonderful story-telling keeps the reader riveted and wanting to know what happens next in both storylines -- how the police violated a man's rights and how he found justice. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | Monterey County Weekly | SB 1421 and police transparency—or lack thereof | Mary Duan | Critical government accountability reporting by a reporter who clearly understands how public records work and why they are so important, |
| In-Depth Reporting | 5th | Chico News & Review | Post-Camp Fire water contamination | Meredith J. Cooper | As much as I appreciated the deep research and records work that went into this series of stories, I loved that each story put a human face -- and story -- on the issue. That kind of story-telling allows readers to connect complicated and often arcane issues to their daily lives. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | North Coast Journal | Blackout | North Coast Journal Staff | In a category full of high quality entries, this entry from the North Coast Journal detailing the impact of a series of blackouts on its coverage area. Reporters tackled the subject from all perspectives: local residents, first responders and business owners. There is the imagery of the rush to the grocery store. Included were important, helpful details about local resource centers could help people going forward. This was an impressive group effort. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | Gilroy Dispatch | Gilroy Garlic Festival mass shooting | Erik Chalhoub, Barry Holtzclaw, Michael Moore, Jennifer Wadsworth | The Gilroy Dispatch staff should be commended for its strong, comprehensive coverage in the aftermath of the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting. Beyond the responsible, professional spot coverage of the shooting, the newspaper made smart choices in its follow-up reporting. The Dispatch even secured an interview with the local police chief, who reportedly turned down requests from national outlets. The ongoing coverage of a community trying to move on, along with perspectives of festival organizers wanting to come back for 2020, was inspiring. A well-rounded, impressive effort. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | Comstock's Magazine | Beating the Burn | Sena Christian | In what might be the strongest writing effort of the category, Sena Christian offers an in-depth overview of the topic of wildfires: what causes them, and how the resulting devastation can be mitigated in the years ahead. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | Santa Maria Sun | All bark, no bite | Kasey Bubnash | This entry from the Santa Maria Sun highlighted an interesting, unique issue of pet stores selling commercially-bred dogs. Reporter Kasey Bubnash cleanly presented the topic and problems at hand, and effectively weaved together a number of different voices. Well done. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 5th | The Almanac | Understanding the Unsheltered; Police used city funds to taxi homeless woman to SF | Kate Bradshaw | Kate Bradshaw's comprehensive story about a police department sending a homeless woman away via taxi is a good example of highlighting a broader issue through the lens of one person's experience. Nicely done. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Race to See the Future | Cromwell Schubarth | |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Rebellion at Hanna Boys Center | Anne Ward Ernst | |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | San Marino Outlook | Traffic Tinkering in San Marino | Zane Hill, Camila Castellanos, Mark Geers | |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | The Davis Enterprise | Corona murder series | Lauren Keene, Tanya Perez, Anne Ternus-Bellamy | |
| In-Depth Reporting | 5th | La Canada Flintridge Outlook | Heartbreaking Memories Remain 10 Years Aftr Fatal Crash on Foothill | Wes Woods, Camila Castellanos, Mark Geers | |
| In-Depth Reporting | 1st | The Ark | Anchor-outs on Richardson Bay | Gretchen Lang, Hannah Weikel | Does Gretchen Lang live on a boat? Because she describes life on a boat like she's been there. This tight package -- anchored by Lang's piece about local government being stumped about how to treat boat dwellers, and one family’s struggles to get off the water -- is a great slice of life for a lifestyle I didn’t know existed. I've traveled through Sausalito many times, and always assumed the yuppie-types owned the boats floating outside town. Liberty and Kelly Darling were not what I expected. The piece expertly weaved the story of their dangerous living situation into a larger narrative about affordable housing. The package, which includes Lang’s follow-ups on the NIMBY fights over where to put these anchor-outs, and Hannah Weikel’s spot news on the chaos from high winds, shows The Arc’s dedication to covering an important and overlooked problem. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 2nd | Siskiyou Daily News | A river runs through them: A look at the Klamath River and those who depend on it | Barry Kaye | In his well-written expose on a plan to remove dams on the Klamath River, Barry Kaye gives insightful historical context, serves up interesting river characters from the river, and gives voice to both sides of an argument over removing the dams that have become integral to the life in the area. It’s a fun read on an important topic, and includes strong art. A close second. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 3rd | The Mountain Enterprise | Federal forest managers skip past environmental reviews | Patric Hedlund, Marcy Axness, Gary Meyer | Solid coverage of an important environmental issue with national implications. |
| In-Depth Reporting | 4th | Lincoln News Messenger | Fighting breast cancer and surviving | Carol Feineman, Joshua Gutierrez, Shaden Solanji, Matthew Nobert | |
| In-Depth Reporting | 5th | The Trinity Journal | Caltrans may resume herbicide spraying | Amy Gittelsohn, Sally Morris | |
| Writing | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Detective Trapp | Christopher Goffard | |
| Writing | 2nd | San Francisco Chronicle | The Fisherman's Secret | Jason Fagone, Tara Duggan, Santiago Mejia | |
| Writing | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | An identical twin sister lost, found and, at long last, home | Barbara Demick | |
| Writing | 4th | San Francisco Chronicle | A Fire’s Unfathomable Toll | Lizzie Johnson | |
| Writing | 5th | The San Diego Union-Tribune | A bomb, a call, lives altered | John Wilkens | |
| Writing | 1st | The Desert Sun | Lost Ship | Kristin Scharkey | Though lengthy, the excellent reporting, writing and presentation carry the reader through and craft an engaging, informative article that leaves the reader wanting more. |
| Writing | 2nd | The Bakersfield Californian | Powerful gay men. Vulnerable teenage boys. Murder. Justice. And now, for newly freed Bobby Mistriel, a measure of vindication. | Robert Price | Well written, fascinating look at the underbelly of sex trafficking in the 70s and 80s. Kudos on the follow-through over the years that keeps this story alive. |
| Writing | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Environmentalists back border wall | Janet Wilson | In-depth, well-written look at reality on the border. Through the mouths of those who live there, the reality of border issues comes to life. |
| Writing | 4th | Press-Telegram | Lakewood Equestrian Center, a longtime rural gem, faces uncertain future | Chris Haire | |
| Writing | 5th | The Desert Sun | Pools and Paychecks | Amy DiPierro | |
| Writing | 1st | Record Searchlight | Six months later, Carr Fire survivors share tales of horror and hope | Alayna Shulman | |
| Writing | 2nd | The Record | Living in fear | Almendra Carpizo | |
| Writing | 3rd | Whittier Daily News | This Pico Rivera cat was stuck in a 90-foot palm tree for nearly two weeks ... then he fell | Bradley Bermont | |
| Writing | 4th | Napa Valley Register | The Pathway Home, looking back one year | Sean Scully | |
| Writing | 5th | Record Searchlight | Here’s how football and community brought Paradise together after the Camp Fire | Ethan Hanson | |
| Writing | 1st | The Salinas Californian | A month later | Kate Cimini | A tale of a mother's grief after loss of a child. good descriptions: Never thought something so ugly would happen to us ... having a hard time going outside after dark ... frustrated how the world has moved on ... lost faith in humanity. |
| Writing | 2nd | The Salinas Californian | Sentencing | Joe Szydlowski | Another tragic story told well, Clear writing and solid organization. |
| Writing | 3rd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Holding on for Ron | Dawn Megli | Nice tribute to a fallen officer and those left to deal with grief. Clean and concise writing. |
| Writing | 4th | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Putting tragedy into words | Becca Whitnall | Very good read about picking up the pieces after Borderline shooting. |
| Writing | 5th | TimesOC | Tom Tully never knew he had a Hollywood star. His grandchildren found it decades after his death | Ada Tseng | Interesting mystery story. Clear and well organized. |
| Writing | 1st | North Coast Journal | Butter and Belonging at Red Lobster | Jennifer Fumiko Cahill | Really lovely writing. |
| Writing | 2nd | Poway News Chieftain | Chabad members surrounded with post-tragedy love | Elizabeth Marie Himchak | Top notch reporting. |
| Writing | 3rd | Palos Verdes Peninsula News | The machine at her bedside | Mary Jo Hazard | Very nice writing. |
| Writing | 4th | Calexico Chronicle | The Inside Story of Trump's Visit to Imperial County | Gary Redfern | |
| Writing | 5th | Los Altos Town Crier | Deputies get their goats – without using billy clubs | Megan Winslow | |
| Writing | 1st | The Davis Enterprise | Turning the corner | Anne Ternus-Bellamy | Our paper is in the midst of a homeless series and I keep saying "put a face on it." This story does that better than anything I've read in a long time. Fantastic reporting; this story grabbed me from the first paragraph and never let me go. Within a few sentences, I cared about this man and even felt as if I knew him. |
| Writing | 2nd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Longer commutes on the rise | Matt Brown | One of the better commute stories I've read. I especially enjoyed the description of his journey; good reporting tied in a lot of different topics (commute, housing, employment) into one story. |
| Writing | 3rd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | A Decade of Promise and Peril | Cromwell Schubarth | This could have been a very boring big-picture numbers story; instead, it was boiled down into a highly readable and informative piece. Well done. |
| Writing | 4th | Silicon Valley Business Journal | To All the Jobs I've Had Before | J. Jennings Moss | Highly entertaining column. I don't say this often, but -- I wish it was longer! |
| Writing | 5th | The Davis Enterprise | Community mourns ‘fun teacher’ | Lauren Keene | A very sensitive topic handled very well. Lots of great writing and reporting here. |
| Writing | 1st | The Ark | Tiburon cancer survivor leads fundraising to launch yoga program at Benioff hospital | Emily Lavin | |
| Writing | 2nd | The Windsor Times | There's no place like home | Heather Bailey | |
| Writing | 3rd | The Ark | County struggles to prioritize housing for bay’s anchor-outs | Gretchen Lang | |
| Writing | 4th | The Desert Review | A surprise visit for the school's biggest Padres fan | Betty Miller | |
| Writing | 5th | The Desert Review | Buyers unite at livestock auction to help save a little girl | Betty Miller | |
| Investigative Reporting | 1st | The Sacramento Bee | OverCorrection: Crisis in California Jails | Jason Pohl, Ryan Gabrielson, Sohail Al-Jamea | This groundbreaking project provided a blueprint that reporters in other states can and should replicate. Criminal justice and prison reform is a heavily debated topic at the moment, and while jurisdictions across the U.S. struggle to understand their own problems, it seems that big picture explanations have been missing. Until now. Pohl and Gabrielson take an immense topic- the state of incarceration in California- and make it digestible and compelling. They expertly balance the use of data and graphics with human sources and victim narratives to keep the reader engaged while telling the whole story. As if that's not enough, the writing is also top notch. The amount of work that went into this project is clear, and it was time well spent. |
| Investigative Reporting | 2nd | San Francisco Chronicle | Vanishing Violence | Jill Tucker, Joaquin Palomino, Evan Sernoffsky | This is an expertly crafted and explored series, leaving few stones unturned on this topic. The series benefitted greatly from the use of graphics, maps and photos to present 30 years of information in a manner that is easy to grasp both the immense scope of change and individual nuances. I especially appreciated the special report from local youth who were skeptical in the drop in juvenile crime and the interviews with adults who had been impacted by the system as youth. This project is a great example and teachable piece of investigative journalism, including the tangible results it had on the city of San Francisco, including the upcoming closure of the juvenile detention center and ousting of the head of juvenile probation. |
| Investigative Reporting | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Promised federal contracts for Native Americans go to others | Adam Elmahrek, Paul Pringle | There isn't a word to accurately describe the scope and reach of this investigation, as "impressive" is surely an understatement. The information uncovered by the Times reporters in the first story in this entry was shocking, and I felt a touch of satisfaction as I watched the dominos fall in subsequent stories, as state and federal officials tightened processes and demanded inquiries. This is a textbook example of how investigative reporting utilizing public records and data provides irrefutable evidence that can lead to impactful and nationwide changes. |
| Investigative Reporting | 4th | The Orange County Register | Abuses in U.S. Olympic sports programs | Scott M. Reid | Excellent reporting that utilizes deep sourcing and impactful interviews with victims, as well as rich detail from public documents and hearing transcripts. Scott Reid clearly has his finger on the pulse of misconduct in Olympic sports, both in and outside of California. The first two stories in this investigation revealed problems within a newly formed regulatory body designed to protect young athletes from sexual assault and exploitation, and when the issues were brought to light, the group sought to silence future victims. This is remarkably telling. In terms of positive impact, this investigation and Reid's additional stories are being cited in the highest of forums and has sparked rule changes and additional oversight in an area of sports that was already under a microscope. It's clear that Reid is remarkably well sourced in this arena. Well done. |
| Investigative Reporting | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Bodies of evidence | Melody Petersen, David Willman, Gus Garcia-Roberts | This is one of those stories that you wouldn't believe were true if it wasn't printed on the pages of a reputable newspaper. The cases that were upended by this practice are heartbreaking and the business practices behind this somehow legal practice almost leave the reader feeling almost dirty. I appreciated the sidebar pieces, giving a more in-depth look into many of the nuances of this investigation, particularly the "what you can do to protect yourself" piece, as I imagine most readers were left feeling the same way I was at the completion of the project's centerpiece story. |
| Investigative Reporting | 1st | The Desert Sun | Drilling deep on California's oil regulators | Janet Wilson, Evan Wyloge, Julie Makinen | Karen Wilson's ongoing reporting about California oil regulators is watchdog journalism personified. In one story after another, The Desert Sun highlighted conflicts of interest and dummy permit files that showcased the corruption in clear, understandable terms. More important is that the reporting prompted change. Very impressive work. |
| Investigative Reporting | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Sexual harassment and assault at Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals | Nicole Hayden, Kristin Scharkey, Kate Franco, Christopher Damien | When The Desert Sun staff noticed discrepancies in reported statistics of sexual assault/harassment at the Coachella music festival, the publication decided to conduct its own investigation into the matter. Reporters surveyed a high sample of Coachella attendees to determine a more a more accurate assessment of the problem. It is commendable that, in a nod to transparency, the Sun included information as to how it conducted the investigation and what survey questions were asked to attendees. |
| Investigative Reporting | 3rd | The Fresno Bee | How bad teeth and a lack of dental care can lead to discrimination and poverty | Manuela Tobias | The Fresno Bee's investigation into dental care access shows that a topic that might seem narrow at first glance actually involves many different issues at play. This story features an intersection of health care, the economy and government's role with Medi-Cal. The interactive map chart showing dental benefit usage by area/race, along with a short video, made this a well-rounded, quality entry. |
| Investigative Reporting | 4th | The Modesto Bee | MID plays favorites with its electricity rates. So who’s paying the price? | Garth Stapley | Garth Stapley's reportorial knowledge of the "winners and losers" of public utilities charges is evident in this work for the Modesto Bee. The charts were helpful, and the clean, crisp writing laid out the problem effectively. |
| Investigative Reporting | 5th | The Fresno Bee | City manager claims councilman defamed her over talk of relationship with police lieutenant | Brianna Calix | |
| Investigative Reporting | 1st | San Gabriel Valley Tribune | City of Industry misused subsidized housing to reward allies, force out dissenters | Jason Henry | Good, thorough reporting. Hard to believe the city was so blatant about its misuse of public property. |
| Investigative Reporting | 2nd | The Tribune | Bad air from the Oceano Dunes forces people inside. Is it a crisis or exaggeration? | Monica Vaughan | This article offered a lot of data and a variety of perspectives, and it clearly led to changes in the management of the State Park. As a reader, though, I remained unconvinced that the recreational vehicle activity was solely responsible for the dust plume, and besides it being expensive, I wasn't sure why the ocean algae report was written off so easily. |
| Investigative Reporting | 3rd | Record Searchlight | 'Fox in the Henhouse': How law enforcement officers get away with domestic violence | Damon Arthur | |
| Investigative Reporting | 4th | The Tribune | Many cops got breaks when charged with crimes in SLO County | Matt Fountain | |
| Investigative Reporting | 5th | Record Searchlight | A decade of shootings by Shasta County-based law enforcement officers | Matt Brannon | |
| Investigative Reporting | 1st | Bohemian | Charity Case: Investigating PG&E-funded Rebuild North Bay Foundation | Peter Byrne, Will Carruthers | |
| Investigative Reporting | 2nd | Palo Alto Weekly | On the trail of a killer | Sue Dremann | This painstakingly researched entry is a fascinating portrait of a rapist and murderer and apparent serial killer living comfortably within our society for decades. Utterly chilling and wonderfully put together. |
| Investigative Reporting | 3rd | The Almanac | Troubled water | Kate Bradshaw | A really thorough examination of a troubled private water system, showing how grievously it has failed its members. Nepotism, corruption and dirty water all wrapped into a readable story. |
| Investigative Reporting | 4th | Sacramento News & Review | Counterfeit vape cartridges and illness | Ken Magri | The Sacramento News & Review is to be commended for a thorough consumer report that had direct benefit to its readership. The dedication to spend the money to test these cartridges is something all too rarely seen in today's impoverished newsrooms. |
| Investigative Reporting | 5th | Metro Silicon Valley | Tap Dance: Snooping on Jail Calls Catches Bad Actors, But Easy Access Raises New Concerns | Jennifer Wadsworth | This report shines a light on a really important Fourth Amendment issue and intelligently explores the balance point between law-enforcement necessities and privacy rights. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | One Day, One City, No Relief | San Francisco Chronicle Staff | Of the many marvelous entries in this category, "One Day, One City, No Relief" stands out. Outstanding journalism that provides local insight to a staggering issue. The commitment to this project is impressive, but the writing, photography and design are a glorious example of what journalists can and should accomplish for their communities. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | California Against the Sea | Rosanna Xia | Excellent writing, photos, graphics and design. Amazing. A great example of the critical importance of in-depth reporting. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | American fallout: The Marshall Islands | Susanne Rust, Carolyn Cole, Ali Raj, Lorena Iñiguez Elebee | Each of the top-three finishers in this category is worthy of first place. Difficult to find anything but superlatives. One of the criteria for judging, though, was local appeal, which was a straw to grasp at while sorting such strong entries. The writing here is off the charts excellent. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Their kids died on the psych ward. They were far from alone, a Times investigation found | Soumya Karlamangla | More excellent journalism from the Times. Ambitious reporting and storytelling with real implications. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 5th | San Francisco Chronicle | Broken Care | Trisha Thadani, Dominic Fracassa | Entries like this remind us of why local journalism is so important. Bravo. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 1st | The Desert Sun | Homelessness | Nicole Hayden, Sam Metz, Jay Calderon | This is one hell of a tour de force from Nicole Hayden. In early 2019, she sunk her teeth into the issue of homelessness, and she spent the rest of the year feasting on every angle of homelessness in California. She wrote spot news of political funding decisions, feature stories of the impact shutting down encampments, did interviews with addicts, spoken word alongside formerly homeless people and advocates, and dozens of stories between. This expertly produced yearlong coverage of the problem stands out in a crowded field of entries. While the amount of time and work Hayden sunk into the projects is impressive, the elegance of her writing and her ability to think outside the box on story ideas and presentation made the package a real treat to read. Props to her tireless work on the issue, and to the Desert Sun for giving her the time, resources and freedom to take on such an ambitious project. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 2nd | The Bakersfield Californian | Where We Live: An in-depth look at the enclaves, districts and neighborhoods that make up the fabric of Kern County | Robert Price | I’ve never been to Bakersfield. But after reading these half-dozen or so vignettes about the city’s neighborhoods, each giving a unique slice of modern life and history (complete with maps and photos), I feel like I could navigate it pretty well. Actually, I think I know in which neighborhood I’d like to live. At first, I was a little confused by Robert Price’s project of documenting the changing faces of these neighborhoods. There was no clear news hook. But a good story, or project, doesn’t always need a newsy angle. Sometimes, people just want to pick up the local paper and read something interesting about their community. Price is obviously a man about town, expertly documenting the different flavors of Bakersfield just for the joy of writing, and reading, it. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 3rd | The Bakersfield Californian | 34 deaths in 10 years: Newly released documents detail a decade of force by members of the Bakersfield Police Department | Sam Morgen | Solid watchdog reporting on an important social justice issue with national implications. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 4th | The Modesto Bee | Policing Themselves | Erin Tracy, Kevin Valine | |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 5th | The Desert Sun | Sexual harassment at Coachella music fest | Nicole Hayden, Christopher Damien | |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 1st | The Union | Homelessness in western Nevada County | Sam Corey, John Orona | A compelling subject helps draw the reader in from the very start of the first story, and I liked the repeated pairing of articles in the series. The coupling of "human stories" and solution/ issue stories in the same edition and page was a great way to draw the reader into the first story and give them an immediate reason (the person they just learned about) to read the second story. I also really appreciated the lengthy resource box for people experiencing homelessness attached to the first story. This was a well-executed deep dive into an essentially universal problem, and as a person not from the region, I feel like I have a fairly good grasp on the homelessness situation (at the time of publication) in Western Nevada County. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 2nd | The Tribune | This is the Deadliest year at the Oceano Dunes. What is State Parks going to do about it? | Kaytlyn Leslie, Monica Vaughan, David Middlecamp | This is a very solid piece of reporting. It clearly identifies the problem- lack of education and enforcement of laws at Oceano Dunes that is literally killing people- backs it up with data and outlines steps that officials are taking to remedy the problem. The use of a human byproduct of the problem quickly drew me in as a reader, eager to learn his whole story. Circling back to the subject after laying out the problem and potential solutions was a nice way to circle back around and remind readers that allowing the problem to continue has a human cost. While the details of the 2019 fatal crashes were difficult to read, they felt necessary to drive the point home. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 3rd | The Union Democrat | Perp-Walks on the Sheriff’s Facebook | Giuseppe Ricapito | Interesting topic that's well-explored by the reporter, who makes it clear mid-way through the article that the posting of perp walk videos on the sheriff's Facebook page (which nets tens of thousands of views) is more or less arbitrary and based upon staffing. The reporter found sources to weigh in on both sides of the issue at hand which helped to articulate the nuances to the sheriff department's practice. The reporter also takes a deep dive into the department's use of Facebook to reinforce that perp walks are in the minority of the posts, but takes it a step further by breaking down the posts since the page's creation in 2016. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 4th | Santa Monica Daily Press | Vanlord parks homeless crisis in residential neighborhoods | Madeleine Pauker | This story was a new twist on a familiar topic and did a good job of presenting the full picture in terms of the affect of this new spin on dealing with homelessness on the various affected parties. The main source provided candid, revealing and relatable quotes that engaged me as a reader and a fellow human being. This was an extremely well-rounded and engaging piece. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 5th | The Record | Battle with Kaiser | Joe Goldeen | A tragic and compelling story about a lifelong caregiver denied by her own employer the compassion that she bestowed upon thousands of patients. The use of primary documents in this story was an almost bulletproof testament to what Ms. Fillon experienced, despite Kaiser's statement to the contrary. This was a story that needed to be told. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 1st | New Times | Hand-sculpted | Camillia Lanham | This entry stood out in a crowded category because of the lovely storytelling quality and the accompanying images. It also explained a process I had never heard of. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 2nd | Metro Silicon Valley | Stealing Home: Weak Oversight Leaves Rent-Subsidy Fraud Unchecked for Years on End | Jennifer Wadsworth | A top investigative piece explaining what's behind rent-subsidy fraud. Well written. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 3rd | TimesOC | The Frat House is the last gay bar standing in Garden Grove | Lilly Nguyen | |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 4th | The Salinas Californian | Homicide drop | Joe Szydlowski | |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 5th | Palo Alto Weekly | The price of 'paradise' | Palo Alto Weekly Staff | |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 1st | Mountain View Voice | A neighborhood association on wheels: New advocacy group seeks to unite Mountain View's vehicle dwellers | Mark Noack, Magali Gauthier | A great take on a different slice of homelessness: long time residents who, because of circumstances beyond their control, can no longer afford to pay rent in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. Thoroughly reported and well written. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 2nd | The Almanac | A death on the tracks | Kate Bradshaw | Reporter uses one family's pain to raise questions about the absence of cameras and other security/safety measures at some Caltrain stations. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 3rd | Mountain View Voice | 'No one actually reads' it: City runs its legal notices in hard-to-find newspaper | Mark Noack | This is a great find, and written with real wit. But the reporter rightly shows how the public is being ill-served by the decision to publish legal notices in a newspaper with a total circulation of 69. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 1st | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | 'Blue Line' or Crossing a Line? | Kate Williams | This story frames a complex, national issue in local terms. It's thoroughly and fairly reported, and beautifully presented on the page. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 2nd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Along the Rails of the Caltrain Corridor | Janice Bitters, Marlize van Romburgh, Alex Barreira | This is a deep dive into the dynamics of transit and housing that are shaping many West Coast cities. A nice mix of narrative and visuals, with many entry points. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 3rd | Santa Clara Weekly | Legendary Concert Promoter Will "Never, Ever" Book Weeknight Shows at Levi's Stadium Due to Curfew | Carolyn Schuk | An illuminating follow-up to the establishment of a curfew in Santa Clara, showing the unintended consequences of the city's controversial measure. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 4th | Sacramento Business Journal | Little Saigon | Mark Anderson | The writer took time and trouble to find the intriguing backstory of a building that has stood empty so long it's become invisible in plain sight. This type of story encourages us to look at our surroundings anew. |
| Enterprise News Story or Series | 5th | The Folsom Telegraph | Salute to local Breast Cancer Survivors Series | Rachel Zirin, Bill Sullivan | An ambitious attempt to raise awareness about a quiet but life-threatening issue that affects many individuals and families. The multiplicity of voices is powerful. |
| Breaking News | 1st | Los Angeles Times | College admissions scandal | Los Angeles Times Staff | The Los Angeles Times was clearly ready and waiting for the unsealing of the college admissions indictments. When the story broke, the Times reporters and editors jumped into action, and stayed ahead of this major national story: It was in the Times’ territory, and the newspaper owned it. The story struck at the heart of its two biggest universities, and at the heart of its biggest industries—entertainment and sports—and the newspaper used its expertise to provide readers with the complete story. This story didn’t unfold as much as it became revealed with each edition of the Times. The writing was crisp and accurate, the reporting was solid. The mix of stories and expertise of its news, sports and entertainment teams was more than impressive. This was an extraordinary effort. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Deadly Conception boat fire | Los Angeles Times Staff | When the unexpected strikes, the Los Angeles Times showed it knows how to react, with its reporting on the Conception Boat Fire: lots of detail in a long day of reporting, excellent writing and sensitive, empathetic photos and stories told the tale of this horrific event. This reporting showed great coordination and organization of a news team that touched all the bases; excellent editing with no redundancies and strong first-day, one-day coverage that will stand as a vital historical document of a tragic event. |
| Breaking News | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | Wildfire and Shut-Offs | San Francisco Chronicle Staff | The very definition of a wildfire is that it catches everyone by surprise and grows faster in its early stages than anyone can keep up with. This Kincade Fire north of San Francisco came at a tough time for the newspaper deadlines, but the Chronicle marshaled its professional resources quickly and relentlessly, eventually matching the energy and reach of yet another California wildfire story, with the added layer of a utility’s blackout campaign. The stories of the firefighting and the politics and the communities were all captured brilliantly, photographs were stunning and graphics unmatched by any media or state agency in their clarity. |
| Breaking News | 4th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting | Julia Sulek, Nico Savidge, Leonardo Castaneda, Robert Salonga | Solid reporting, especially after the first day, about this shocking shooting in a nearby small city; reporting on the shooter was especially strong, as the Mercury News explored all aspects of this story with top-notch journalism. |
| Breaking News | 5th | The Sacramento Bee | Shooting of Davis Police Officer | Benjy Egal, Molly Sullivan, Sam Stanton, Ryan Sabalow | Excellent reporting of a confusing incident. The timing of the event must have been difficult for the newspaper deadlines; questions surrounding the victim's volunteer status were left out of the newspaper's initial coverage of this breaking story. |
| Breaking News | 1st | The Press Democrat | Kincade fire coverage: Oct. 25-Nov. 4, 2019 | Press Democrat Staff | This entry is a great example of how bold and dynamic the printed newspaper can be, especially during coverage of a huge news event in the region. I was impressed not only with the depth of coverage, but also the quality of reporting and writing, the exceptional photos and the great play they were given, and the clean design. Each day over the five days the readers were given coverage not only of the fire, but also how the fire was affecting their daily lives. Kudos. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | The Press Democrat | Flood coverage: Feb. 27-March 8, 2019 | Press Democrat Staff | This was another solid example of how the printed newspaper can rise to the magnitude of a big, local story. The depth and quantity of coverage was warranted by the seriousness of the news. Another great use of exceptional photos. |
| Breaking News | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Valentine's Day Flood | Desert Sun Staff | This entry showed an exceptional depth of coverage of an event seldom experience in the region. There are lots of pertinent sidebars and helpful stories. I just wish I could have seen how it played in the printed newspaper. |
| Breaking News | 4th | The Bakersfield Californian | Fourth of July Temblor: 'A lot of shaking and a lot of noise' | Darla A. Baker, Teddy Feinberg, Christine L. Peterson, Maureen Strode | Dynamic A1 coverage - story, headline, photo and clearly told the reader that this was a big deal to the community. |
| Breaking News | 5th | The Desert Sun | Water Wars: Imperial Valley cut out of western U.S. drought plan | Janet Wilson, Evan Wyloge | This is a fine example of how to explain a complicated story and how it affects the region. Water is one of the biggest issues in the state, and this entry reflected that importance. |
| Breaking News | 1st | Record Searchlight | Historic February 2019 snowstorm | Record Searchlight Staff | Excellent, thorough continuous coverage. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | Marin Independent Journal | Marin storm havoc: Sausalito mudslide, broad flooding, outages | Matthew Pera, Will Houston, Gary Klien | Terrific writing and reporting. |
| Breaking News | 3rd | Santa Maria Times | Five dead in shooting, fire at mobile home park | Razi Syed, Mike Hodgson, Mathew Burciaga | Strong, clear reporting. |
| Breaking News | 4th | Monterey Herald | Doris Day dies in Carmel Valley home | James Herrera | Moving life profile. |
| Breaking News | 5th | The Tribune | SLO sheriff identifies suspect in 2 unsolved Atascadero murders — after 41 years | Gabby Ferreira, Kaytlyn Leslie, Lindsey Holden, David Middlecamp | Exceptionally strong recap of time and lives. |
| Breaking News | 1st | Monterey County Weekly | Coverage of the aftermath of a mass shooting in Gilroy | Monterey County Weekly contributors and Staff | Unique and compelling approach to an all too familiar story. The inclusion of community leaders gave depth to the story. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | Palo Alto Weekly | Pay to play: College admissions scandal | Sue Dremann, Jamey Padojino, Elena Kadvany | Good coverage of a complex story. Kudos for keeping the sensationalist aspects out of the story. This allows more of the real story to be revealed. |
| Breaking News | 3rd | Palo Alto Weekly | Cellphone video captures heated MAGA confrontation that went viral | Sue Dremann | Interesting perspective on a new issue confronting our society. Good to have a perspective that doesn't predict gloom and doom for our communities. |
| Breaking News | 4th | Sacramento News & Review | The second killing of Stephon Clark | Raheem Hosseini, Scott Anderson, Karlos Ayala, Kris Hooks | Compelling story told in a minute by minute fashion. However, if concerned about bias in reporting, perhaps the line"Fruit of the biased tree" could be left out. |
| Breaking News | 5th | Brentwood Press | Marsh Complex Fire burns 757 acres | Tony Kukulich | Great photos of the air tankers in action. |
| Breaking News | 1st | Gilroy Dispatch | Gilroy Garlic Festival mass shooting | Michael Moore, Erik Chalhoub, Barry Holtzclaw, Jennifer Wadsworth | A great report of a tragic event and excellent breaking news reporting. The headline, copy and photos all mix to tell the story quite nicely. Impressive job. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | North Coast Journal | 'Witnessing a Miracle' | Thadeus Greenson | Excellent use of format. The chronological narrative is weaved together nicely from start to finish by reporting blended with amazing photos and layout. |
| Breaking News | 3rd | Mountain View Voice | Mountain View man detained in ICE raid | Kevin Forestieri | Powerful, well researched piece which gives a new perspective on the subject of immigration. |
| Breaking News | 4th | Pleasanton Weekly | PUSD transcripts: Investigator finds two improper alterations, no systemic problem | Jeremy Walsh | A good explanation of a difficult topic. Great writing, great package. |
| Breaking News | 5th | Calexico Chronicle | President Trump to Visit Imperial County | Richard Brown Montenegro, Gary Redfern, Jayson Barniske, William Roller | Good breaking news content, solid writing, great use of style and nicely packaged. All around top notch. |
| Breaking News | 1st | The Morgan Hill Times | Ford Store shooting | Michael Moore, Erik Chalhoub, Scott Forstner, Jaqueline McCool | Community news reporting at its best. Excellent follow-up that moved a breaking story forward for readers of a weekly. Well-written lead; effective, compelling approach, and good writing all through. Effective photo choices, sidebars and layout. Excellent teamwork with several staff members pursuing different aspects of the story, seeking what was new, what would happen next, what was still unknown and reactions from community members and experts. Included important details that portrayed full pictures of the victims and the perpetrator, which is important for community readership. Included details of what happened but did not rest on that. Went far beyond a recap or chronology. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Seeking sanctuary | Kathryn Palmer | |
| Breaking News | 3rd | The Davis Enterprise | Unpaid student workers stage walkout | Caleb Hampton | |
| Breaking News | 4th | The Davis Enterprise | Davis police officer shot | Lauren Keene | |
| Breaking News | 5th | Silicon Valley Business Journal | What a Leadership Change Spells for Alphabet | Allison Levitsky | |
| Breaking News | 1st | The Trinity Journal | Fish and Game 'meeting' | Amy Gittelsohn | This story on a public meeting that went off the rails captures the tension through extensive quotations, and backs up just enough to remind readers that the real story isn't the process and the Brown Act and the meeting, but the issue of herbicides as a tool. The perspective is clear while sticking to straight news reporting. |
| Breaking News | 2nd | The Ark | Peninsula hit with PG&E blackouts | Hannah Weikel, Kevin Hessel, Rachel Simpson | This in-depth story on PG&E's public safety power shutoff really runs the gamut of telling what happened from the perspective of law enforcement and first responders to ordinary people, and includes a helpful resource box for readers who want further information. |
| Breaking News | 3rd | The Weekly Calistogan | A tale of two Calistogas: Two different stories across the Napa River during power shutoffs | Cynthia Sweeney | This is a nice snapshot of the struggles business owners face during public safety power shutoffs by PG&E, and conveys the sense of fear residents feel during uncertain wildfire conditions. It also answers a question many readers are likely to have about why some areas are affected by a PSPS and others aren't. |
| Breaking News | 4th | The Ark | Boy killed, father arrested in boating accident | Hannah Weikel | This tragic story presents the essential who's who in this breaking news piece, and also effectively relies on a neighbor to give personality and color to the story, going beyond the details of the police report. |
| Breaking News | 5th | Claremont Courier | Questions remain after parade accident | Steven Felschundneff | While this story leaves some important questions unanswered (who was the driver and what was the suspected cause of the crash?) it very effectively sets the scene for the reader and describes the circumstances of what happened. It also takes it one step further with the description of trauma response offered by the city, and how families are using those available services. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | Los Angeles Times | LAPD stop and search | Cindy Chang, Ben Poston | Wow - what a series. It starts with a deep dive into data, thoughtfully explained for the reader. The findings in the first report then trigger an audit and policy change from the mayor's office, becoming the basis of future stories in this series. The scenery from traffic stops bolsters the narrative as this story unfolds. Even as the police defend their practices, the reporting keeps returning to the data presented in the first deep dive story. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | San Francisco Chronicle | Homeless on BART | Rachel Swan | This story takes on a scene we all experience anecdotally, that there seem to be more homeless people on public transit, and takes a close look at what is really happening. Using data from 911 calls and other sources, the narrative packed with personalities and scenery reveals a series challenge for a public transit agency: What do you do when you are not equipped to act as a homeless services agency but the problem increasingly falls to you? There is an exploration of some efforts at solutions underway, as well, not just an indictment or finger-pointing for who is to blame. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | The Orange County Register | California cities, counties spent $4 billion on overtime in 2018 | Teri Sforza | This is an important story on public employee salaries and overtime. While there is a persuasive case made for why government agencies are experiencing this trend, it’s clear that this is a problem for a variety of reasons, and something that local government agencies need to step in to fix. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | San Francisco Chronicle | The Adachi Leak | Evan Sernoffsky | Truth is stranger than fiction in this one, and this story reflects that. The reporting gets into not only who Adachi was and why we as readers should care, but the political motivations and dynamics between the police department, Public Defender’s Office, and Board of Supervisors, and the media as well. There is some very helpful big-picture explaining on who’s who and how the characters fit together that makes this saga easier to follow for newcomers to the story. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Developer ties to City Hall | Emily Alpert Reyes, David Zahniser | These stories require extensive investigative work to reveal the apparent deal-making between developers and decision-makers. The rent break story especially, based on reviewing redacted rent records, is a fine piece of work. The reporters are careful not to draw connections where they aren’t proven and to make clear what’s beyond the purview of the criminal investigation, but still reveals the way power brokers (from developers to hoteliers) operates and the means by which they curry favor with elected officials. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | The Press Democrat | Coverage of homeless camp on Joe Rodota Trail | Press Democrat Staff | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | Press-Telegram | Long Beach opens new City Hall | Hayley Munguia, Emily Rasmussen, Rich Archbold, Jeff Goertzen | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | Los Angeles Daily News | Transgender people and law enforcement | Brenda Gazzar | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | Daily Pilot | American flag design will stay on Laguna Beach police cars, council decides | Faith Pinho | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | The Bakersfield Californian | Way overdue: More than 40,000 Kern residents owe county $1.1 million | Sam Morgen | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | San Gabriel Valley Tribune | City of Industry misused subsidized housing to reward allies, force out dissenters | Jason Henry | Outstanding writing and reporting using a number of methods to substantiate the story's shocking premise: "Interviews and public records obtained by the Southern California News Group show city-owned housing in Industry often has been used as a tool for those in power to reward allies and punish dissenters. " Hard to believe this kind of corruption exists in the United States. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | Los Angeles Daily Journal | Exposure of government fraud led to resignations | Justin Kloczko | Some of these stories could have used a roadmap, a cast of characters and better context, but the reporting here is excellent, showing the reporter understood the basics of the case as it moved through the court. The final story is the best because it lays out all the element in plain English. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | The Tribune | SLO has plans for thousands of new homes, buildings. Not everyone is happy about it | Nick Wilson | This story does an excellent job of explaining a difficult and technical issue: how a city plans to address housing. The reporting is detailed, with easy-to-understand explanations about costs and good use of bulleted lists to identify each proposed project and its price tag. Growth opponents get a platform and enough space to make their arguments. This entry fits the "issue being addressed by local government" nature of the category better than most entries in this class. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | Monterey Herald | SCRAMP ousted as county | Jim Johnson | Balanced and detailed reporting about a county getting rid of a concessionnaire with a history of financial problems. Not enough dollar signs, but otherwise top-notch reporting. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | Visalia Times-Delta | Coverage of local public hospitals in Visalia and Tulare | James Ward, Sheyanne Romero | This series of stories about poor performance and misbehavior by two local public hospitals and their owner's attempt to influence an election is exhaustively reported and well documented. It doesn't fit the contest category, though, because the primary government involved is a state agency, so it's not a local government story. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | The Salinas Californian | Wave of evictions | Kate Cimini | A powerful dive into the human impact of the housing crisis. Well written and reported. Good sourcing takes the reader inside the homes of people being evicted and puts a human face on the issue. Photos round out the package. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | New Times | Who to honor? | Peter Johnson | Well reported look at a controversy that has divided a community. The piece takes a comprehensive tour of both sides of the issue and lets the reader make a decision. Well written. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | Chico News & Review | Chico responds to Camp Fire surge | Ashiah Scharaga, Meredith J. Cooper, Melissa Daugherty, Evan Tuchinsky | Nice five-part series on impacts of the fire six months later. The main package was well reported and comprehensive. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | Palo Alto Weekly | Whose rules? | Gennady Sheyner | A good in-depth look at a potential solution to the housing crisis with voices on both sides of the issue. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | Metro Silicon Valley | Taxpayers Demand Sunshine in Little-Known Special District | Jennifer Wadsworth | Interesting look at a little known service district board. History section could be condensed. Nice job getting tax payer and pocket book angle. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | North Coast Journal | We Are Coming Home | Thadeus Greenson | No. 1 Wit beautiful illustrations, photographs and writing, these stories put in perspective the history and the future of the Wiyot Tribe. It provides compelling details of the brutality these native people faced more than a century ago. The stories put an eloquent narrative to the lengthy process of repatriation, the impact the ultimate decision has had, and the national attention it has attracted. Well-done! |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | Santa Maria Sun | Now recruiting | Zac Ezzone | No. 2 Police shortages and their impacts are often reported in local media, however, this coverage actually shows readers, as opposed to telling them, the impact. It draws the reader in with a story of the police chief in which he had been up late the night before conducting a gang sweep. The coverage details the causes and impact of the shortage and is illustrated with strong photographs. The box telling readers how they can apply to become an officer is a thoughtful finishing touch. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | Comstock's Magazine | Slow Progress for Fast Speeds | Russell Nichols | Making dry topics such as 5G readable is a challenge, but this piece managed to do so by finding a main character to tell the story. The photo illustration and strong layout complements the coverage. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | Santa Maria Sun | The transformation | Chris McGuinness | No. 4 The complexities of cleaning up land that has become makeshift homes for people are well-examined in this piece, making it clear how many stakeholders need to be involved, and how challenging it is for communities with limited time and resources to align on how to solve the issue of homelessness. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | The Malibu Times | 'Mansionization' in Malibu | Emily Sawicki | No. 5 This is strong coverage of an issue that strikes at the heart of homeowners. It provides details of the proposal, its impact, and developments in the issue along the way. However, I would have liked to have seen more people stories and photographs of property owners to help tell the story. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | Kenwood Press | KFD Tables Consolidation Effort | Jay Gamel | Too the point and clearly and brightly written starting from the headline and lead and all the way through. Good use of numbers; they don't overwhelm the reader and writer takes the reader along in his investigation. Important to the community as to how tax money is spent and decisions that affect it. Got the "why" up high and put it in for every additional idea. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | Kenwood Press | Sounding the Alarm | Sarah Phelps | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | Dana Point Times | Allegations Disrupt Party Unity | Lillian Boyd, Shawn Raymundo, Adam Gilles | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | Del Mar Times | Torrey Pines Community Planning Board OKS light | Luke Harold | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | Santa Clara Weekly | Santa Clara 2019-20 Budget: 1% Higher, 100% Clearer | Carolyn Schuk | |
| Coverage of Local Government | 1st | The Ark | Tiburon drone ban | Deirdre McCrohan, Alison T. Gray | Tiburon has banned drones from flying in certain areas, and those rules were challenged by a variety of organizations, including news media. The concerns about the ordinance are in the details, and the story carefully spells them out, running through the implications and (notably in the last story) the debate over those details, while giving everyone their say. Many sources and perspectives were included in clearly-written stories that required precision and got it. An opinion piece from the publisher (really either an editorial or column), though not part of the story, provides some additional perspective. A useful package across several issues for local readers. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 2nd | The Weekly Calistogan | Calistoga winery, city spar over what constitutes an 'event' | Cynthia Sweeney | Wineries are concerned by what falls under the category of "event" at their outlets. One person asked, “In all the discussion throughout Napa County about wineries (the question arises) are they there to make wine and sell wine or are they event centers?” There are limits to how many events can be held; the story is unclear about exactly what the limits are: Evidently it's not an absolute matter but a question of wineries having too many, when there seems to be a disagreement over how many is too many. The story appears to indicate the number allowed is variable depending on what kind of permit is applied for and what is noted in the specific permit, but there's some vagueness there. Still, the story is strong on perspective and providing a fresh angle on a subject of local controversy. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 3rd | The Ark | Strawberry Recreation District | Emily Lavin | A former general manager has sued the recreation district for wrongful termination relating to sexual harassment and other concerns. The longish story outlines both the details of the suit, drawn from court record, and background from both the board's and the manager's viewpoints, as well as pointing out the legal issues relating to open meetings. Well crafted (though it could have straightened out the narrative flow a bit) and gives the reader a strong sense of the internal dynamics in the district. The two followup articles don't expand on it greatly but do continue the story (and fill in further on the seeming management problems in the district). |
| Coverage of Local Government | 4th | Santa Ynez Valley Star | Solvang Tourism Cut | Raiza Giorgi | At points the story veers a little near editorializing - against the budget cut - but as a whole it covers the bases and does a good job outlining the implications of the decision to cut funding toward tourism, though it leaves open questions concerning some of the motivations for doing so (since the officially-stated reasons seem a little implausible, and there are a little vague references to personal conflicts). Could have combined this one and its followup. |
| Coverage of Local Government | 5th | Big Bear Grizzly | County DA's office probes MWD resignation process | Judi Bowers | The facts seem largely to be collected here, and the necessary stops made by way of checking information and getting responses. And the story underneath what might have been a two-graf mention of a board resignation was skillfully teased out, the details examined with some care. But the perspective is still missing; is this just a case of administrative sloppiness (which on the surface it seems to be), which might not be especially significant, or is something else going on or at stake? Is something else going on beyond careless managing of paperwork and formal action - or is that carelessness part of an ongoing pattern here, or a one-off? In other words, what should the reader make of it? |
| Land-Use Reporting | 1st | The Orange County Register | California's housing shortage and demands on cities | Jeff Collins, Alicia Robinson, Nikie Johnson, Jeff Goertzen | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 2nd | The San Diego Union-Tribune | All is not calm around piers lining Shelter Island enclave | Jennifer Van Grove | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Remaking the Miracle Mile | Carolina Miranda | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Housing in California | Liam Dillon | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 5th | San Francisco Chronicle | Mission Bay Comes of Age | John King, J.K. Dineen, Mark Lundgren | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 1st | Press-Telegram | After 112 years of carrying Long Beach’s heritage, the future of Sunnyside Cemetery is on a precipice | Hayley Munguia | This entry is a powerful and well-written story that weaves together the memories of the deceased and highlights the cemetery's historical significance -- while providing an in-depth explanation about the fight between city officials and cemetery board members as they decide how to preserve and manage the site. The reporter did a superb job of highlighting what's at stake if the two sides can't reach a compromise. Fantastic writing. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Private homes inside Joshua Tree National Park | Janet Wilson | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 3rd | The Bakersfield Californian | Kern quickly rises to become California's top hemp-producing county | John Cox | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 4th | The Press-Enterprise | In rural Anza, marijuana is seen as a scourge. Could it also be a savior? | Jeff Horseman | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 5th | The Desert Sun | Cannabis in the Anza Valley | Sam Metz, Jay Calderon | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 1st | Record Searchlight | Fuel for our Fires | Damon Arthur, David Benda, Mike Chapman, Randall Hauser | An incredibly important series phenomenally reported, and beautifully written, photographed, illustrated and packaged. A real standout. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 2nd | Pasadena Star-News | Caltrans lets 163 homes sit vacant along part of 710 corridor 2 years after nixing freeway extension plan | Steve Scauzillo | Excellent investigative journalism and use of the CPRA to shine a light on a hidden story. Wow! |
| Land-Use Reporting | 3rd | Record Searchlight | ‘There are more coming. We’re desperate for housing’: One woman’s story | Michele Chandler | Wonderfully crafted, humanizing piece to illustrate a massive issue on the horizon. Fine research and investigation to really bring it all home. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 4th | The Tribune | No more off-road riding at the Oceano Dunes? Coastal Commission staff says 'it is time' | Kaytlyn Leslie, Ashley Ladin, Monica Vaughan | Great series in following this as it unfolded and focusing on all sides and perspectives. Excellent service piece on an issue that just about everyone is going to have a strong opinion about. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 5th | The San Bernardino Sun | Pioneertown residents now have clean tap water for the first time in decades | Sandra Emerson | Neat little story that was also a real eye-opener. Great explainers on the system and the quirky background of the town made it fun and informative. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 1st | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Watch This Space | Jody Meacham | A nicely written narrative that brings to life what could have been a dreary topic to tackle: future parking space in San Jose. The writer engages readers immediately, quickly and clearly summarizes the somewhat complex issues at play and lets readers know why they should care. Tightly written, balanced with a strong mix of voices set against interesting national and historical context. The sidebars are deftly written and useful to the local target audience. An excellent, informative package. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 2nd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Along the Rails of the Caltrain Corridor | Janice Bitters, Marlize van Romburgh, Alex Barreira | An engaging visual presentation combined with a deeply reported and authoritatively written main story make for a strong, useful, reader-friendly package. Outstanding design, strong art and clear writing. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 3rd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Destination: Santa Clara | Matthew Niksa, J. Jennings Moss | An informative look at changes looming in one of Silicon Valley’s biggest cities. Thoroughly reported, with strong use of graphics and design to present details of the development project. A compelling narrative offers readers a look at how the plans play into the history of the city. Very well done. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 4th | Del Mar Times | Del Mar, Solana Beach brace for added density from new state housing mandate | Luke Harold | A concisely written look at a complex issue, detailing how small San Diego County cities are dealing with daunting housing mandates. A clearly crafted, well-organized narrative guides readers through the facts and figures. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 5th | Elk Grove Citizen | California Northstate University's proposed hospital | Lance Armstrong | The series of stories gives readers an informative look into an unfolding, controversial issue. The writer offers up a balanced view of the various sides weighing in on the topic. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 1st | The Ark | County scientist looks to create 'living shorelines' | Gretchen Lang | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 2nd | The Weekly Calistogan | PG&E to seize private vineyard property for liquid natural gas plant in Calistoga | Cynthia Sweeney | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 3rd | The Ark | Tiburon suspends plan for McKegney maintenance shed | Deirdre McCrohan | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 4th | The Trinity Journal | Homeless in Trinity | Amy Gittelsohn | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 5th | Calaveras Enterprise | Forest-thinning project near Glencoe breaks ground | Davis Harper | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 1st | Palo Alto Weekly | Inside Stanford's bid to expand — and how it came undone | Gennady Sheyner | A deeply reported, fairly written look on how Stanford's plans for a major campus expansion fell apart. The writer deftly navigated and explained cogently the university's fruitless efforts to appease multiple stakeholders, while sympathetically capturing the frustration felt by one of those groups: students who felt as if Stanford was simply waiting for them to graduate before bringing the issue back to to county supervisors again in a few years. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 2nd | Mountain View Voice | Reclaiming the Bay | Kevin Forestieri, Magali Gauthier | The best land use reporting takes local issues and explains them in ways that are easy to grasp by someone who's just passing through. This piece does that. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 3rd | The Almanac | Dogged by constant barking, Haven Avenue residents seek relief | Kate Bradshaw | This nuanced, balanced take on a hyperlocal neighborhood issue is sensitively reported, presenting the positions of apartment residents and the owner of a neighboring dog kennel without judgment. In a category otherwise dominated by stories about massive development and environmental restoration projects, this piece held its own. |
| Land-Use Reporting | 4th | San Francisco Business Times | Welcome to Hipsturbia | Blanca Torres, Todd Johnson | |
| Land-Use Reporting | 5th | Valley Voice | Who Closed Yaudanchi? | Catherine Doe | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Vanishing Violence | Joaquin Palomino, Jill Tucker, Evan Sernoffsky | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | College admissions scandal | Los Angeles Times Staff | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Charter schools series | Anna M. Phillips | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | Los Angeles Times | California weighs standardized testing | Teresa Watanabe | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | The San Diego Union-Tribune | Oceanside school busing had irregular mandates | Deborah Sullivan Brennan | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | The Press Democrat | Race, test scores divide Healdsburg schools | Susan Minichiello | Clearly well-researched. The story flowed well and thoughtfully tackled the charged topic of racial disparities between charter and public schools. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | The Bakersfield Californian | New policy draws clear bounaries between employees, students | Stacey Shepard, Ema Sasic | The story wove narrative together with information about the new policy and an impressive collection of public records to discuss the pros and cons of limiting teachers' interactions with students. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | The Fresno Bee | Yemeni student who fled civil war excels in computer programming while learning English | Carmen George | This story was not just a heartwarming profile of a 15-year-old Yemeni immigrant girl who can code, but showed readers a little bit about what the "Newcomer" classroom experience was like. Fascinating. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | The Desert Sun | Izzy Ramirez | Andrew John, Taya Gray, Matt Solinsky | This story impressed me with the way the author not only shared Izzy's story, but captured how the community rallied around him throughout his surgical treatments and recovery. Great photos. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | The Modesto Bee | Caring Counts: It's hard for homeless kids to prepare for school. Kindness as important as supplies | ChrisAnna Mink | I liked the angle this story took in exploring topic of student homelessness from the perspective of how homeless students actually get the supplies they need for the new year. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | Record Searchlight | Immunization rates | Alayna Shulman | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | The Tribune | Will fewer college students report sexual assault after this California court ruling? | Monica Vaughan | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | The Record | High school paper freedom of speech | Nicholas Filipas, Don Blount | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | The Tribune | This Cal Poly student was in a battle with bulimia — and kept it a secret from everyone | Monica Vaughan, David Middlecamp | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | The Tribune | A fall in Big Sur took his ability to walk. How Cal Poly got this student back to the beach | Monica Vaughan | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | Metro Silicon Valley | Funding Uncertainty Threatens Future of Silicon Valley’s Oldest Vocational Training Center | Jennifer Wadsworth | Incredibly detailed and thorough. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | Palo Alto Weekly | The challenge of charter shools | Elena Kadvany | Incredibly detailed and thorough. Tied for first in my opinion. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | Monterey County Weekly | Monterey County is producing more college-bound students than ever. Is that too much of a good thing? | Marielle Argueza | Excellent! |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | The Salinas Californian | Lockup to master's | Chelcey Adami | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | Simi Valley Acorn | Reading, writing and emotional well-being, New program seeks to give students a voice, improve learning experience for all | Krista Abrahamsen, Sylvie Belmond | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | Santa Maria Sun | Subbing for substitutes | Kasey Bubnash | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | Pleasanton Weekly | Amador Valley High School transcript probe and fallout | Jeremy Walsh, Julia Baum | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | Mountain View Voice | Food allergy clinics a leap of faith for desperate families | Kevin Forestieri, Magali Gauthier | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | Los Altos Town Crier | MVLA to move start times later, create new bell schedule | Zoe Morgan | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | The Almanac | Inclusivity on the sidelines | Angela Swartz | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Rebellion at Hanna Boys Center | Anne Ward Ernst | Just flat out excellent. Good reporting and writing, excellent use of sources on a meaningful story that is relevant for our times. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Support for trans kids | Yousef Baig | Well written, well researched, tough topic that is relevant in today's world. Good, all around. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | Glendale News-Press | Friends, parents champion LGBTQ inclusion through elementary book donations | Andrew Campa | Great cause, well written, tells the stories of two activists who are making a difference to children, donating LQBTQ+books to elementary school libraries. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | La Canada Valley Sun | Parents of LCHS students expelled from class for cheating file discrimination lawsuit | Sara Cardine | Headline is confusing, should be broken into two parts. Intriguing story that tells both sides, lets the reader decide if there was discrimination or not ... |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | San Marino Outlook | Be Prepared - Century Old Troop 351 Seeks More Adventures | Zane Hill, Camila Castellanos, Mark Geers | Good story telling of the expansion and maintenance of a Boy Scout troop, in times where it is harder and harder to get outdoors, no matter who you are. |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 1st | The Ark | Strawberry teen’s girls camp aims to spark passion for science | Emily Lavin | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 2nd | The Ark | Del Mar teacher uses own creation to teach kids basic circuitry | Emily Lavin | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 3rd | The Ark | Revamped garden takes root | Emily Lavin | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 4th | Sonoma West Times & News | West county teacher strikes | Laura Hagar Rush, E.I. Hillin | |
| Coverage of Youth and Education | 5th | Cloverdale Reveille | Cloverdale community comes out for climate | Zoe Strickland | |
| Coverage of Business News | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Employee or contractor?: Coverage of AB 5 | Margot Roosevelt, Johana Bhuiyan, Ryan Faughnder | |
| Coverage of Business News | 2nd | The San Diego Union-Tribune | Patients saw hopes for cancer drug dashed | Bradley Fikes, John Wilkens | |
| Coverage of Business News | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Energy sources | Sammy Roth | |
| Coverage of Business News | 4th | San Francisco Chronicle | Shuttered Stores | Shwanika Narayan, Roland Li, Jessica Christian | |
| Coverage of Business News | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Power move | Meg James, Ryan Faughnder, Stacy Perman, Josh Rottenberg | |
| Coverage of Business News | 1st | The Press Democrat | Coverage of insurance payments to fire survivors | Bill Swindell | |
| Coverage of Business News | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Pot feuds tear Anza Valley apart | Sam Metz, Jay Calderon | |
| Coverage of Business News | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Tribe's plans for arena shock Palm Springs | Shane Newell, Melissa Daniels, Risa Johnson, Larry Bohannan | |
| Coverage of Business News | 4th | The Modesto Bee | Housing leaves seniors, many others in stress in Modesto area | Ken Carlson | |
| Coverage of Business News | 5th | The Press Democrat | Cannabis tourism faces hurdles | Julie Johnson | |
| Coverage of Business News | 1st | San Gabriel Valley Tribune | The groups against El Monte’s marijuana projects keep growing and suing; here’s the scorecard | Chris Lindahl | Very thorough and balanced "guide" to the players behind planned marijuana projects. |
| Coverage of Business News | 2nd | Visalia Times-Delta | Coverage of downtown Visalia, which saw some major changes in 2019 | Joshua Yeager, Sheyanne Romero, James Ward | Thorough coverage of challenges downtown businesses are facing. |
| Coverage of Business News | 3rd | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin | Smart cars learning to avoid unpredictable pedestrians | Beau Yarbrough | This is a well-written, engaging story, with added context from an outside source. |
| Coverage of Business News | 4th | Napa Valley Register | Spurred by a broken flip flop, a 9-year-old Napa youth invents a new shoe | Jennifer Huffman | |
| Coverage of Business News | 5th | Santa Monica Daily Press | O'Brien's Irish Pub celebrates 25 years | Angel Carreras | This feature could have benefitted from an additional source, such as a long-time customer. |
| Coverage of Business News | 1st | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Bloom or Bust | Jody Meacham | Great mix of story, photos, graphics to tell the story. |
| Coverage of Business News | 2nd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Cisco Reboots | Jennifer Elias | |
| Coverage of Business News | 3rd | North Bay Business Journal | Growing the market | Chase DiFeliciantonio | |
| Coverage of Business News | 4th | Sacramento Business Journal | Development Doldrums | Ben van der Meer | |
| Coverage of Business News | 5th | The Business Journal | In a pickle | Edward Smith | |
| Coverage of Business News | 1st | The Ark | Local businesses grapple with impacts of power shutoffs | Deirdre McCrohan | Good local companion story showing real impact of the other story in the package. This is a story that many dailies missed: the business impact of the power outages, especially on small businesses in small towns. Great reporting and writing job. |
| Coverage of Business News | 2nd | The Ark | Sam's Anchor Cafe renovation, music permit | Deirdre McCrohan | The story captures the feel of the place and gives a good history; it is clear what it means to the identity of the town. |
| Coverage of Business News | 3rd | Santa Ynez Valley Star | Solvang Fall Festival delights thousands, but hurts many businesses | Raiza Giorgi | The twice-monthly paper got caught in a deadline squeeze on this one, since it couldn't report the council discussion. But it did a nice job framing the issues raised by these event -- issues which aren't going away soon. |
| Coverage of Business News | 4th | The Ark | New mourning of cafe | Deirdre McCrohan | Great feel for this place, and for the issues raised by new developments supported by well meaning local politicians at the expense of local traditions and small business owners. |
| Coverage of Business News | 5th | Calaveras Enterprise | Vacation rentals on rise, but regulations may prove hindering | Noah Berner | There is a great story here, but it would have come to life with interviews with Airbnb owners and motel owners; too many national statistics blurred the real impact this issue clearly has on this region |
| Coverage of Business News | 1st | Chico News & Review | Local businesses respond to Camp Fire | Melissa Daugherty, Tina Flynn, Meredith J. Cooper, Ashiah Scharaga | |
| Coverage of Business News | 2nd | Metro Silicon Valley | As Community Lenders Sell Out or Go Under, Can Publicly-Owned Banks Restore Local Control? | Jennifer Wadsworth | |
| Coverage of Business News | 3rd | San Francisco Business Times | Executive of the Year: Chip Bergh has led a denim renaissance at Levi | Katie Burke, Todd Johnson | |
| Coverage of Business News | 4th | San Francisco Business Times | A new day for the Warriors | Ron Leuty, Todd Johnson, Katie Burke | |
| Coverage of Business News | 5th | SF Weekly | Tech Workers Have Started Organizing More Frequently | Richard Procter | |
| Agricultural Reporting | 1st | The San Bernardino Sun | If fire wipes out joshua trees, other desert plants, this group has a plan | Sandra Emerson | |
| Agricultural Reporting | 2nd | The Tribune | Morro Bay oyster farmers are thriving now — but they face a looming threat | Carrie Schuman | |
| Agricultural Reporting | 3rd | Visalia Times-Delta | Coverage of the struggling olive-growing industry in California | Joshua Yeager | |
| Agricultural Reporting | 4th | Napa Valley Register | From Napa Valley to Australia, advancing the science behind smoke taint in wine grapes | Sarah Klearman | |
| Agricultural Reporting | 5th | Chico Enterprise-Record | Noble Orchards starts u-pick apple harvest | Camille von Kaenel | |
| Agricultural Reporting | 1st | The Sacramento Bee | High and Dry | Dale Kasler | This is a very comprehensive examination of the ramification's of California's groundwater use and how it will affect farming, particularly in the Central Valley. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Cannabis in Riverside County | Sam Metz, Amy DiPierro, Melissa Daniels, Jay Calderon | I found this to be a very ambitious series of stories on a very timely topic. I judged all three stories as a series, even thought it was presented clearly to the readers as a series. Of the three, I particularly liked the piece on Blythe, and how it put its hopes on weed. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | Napa's Small Wine Growers | Esther Mobley | Not only is this story well reported and well written, it really tackles an issue few even know existed. It's a very good David vs. Goliath story. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 4th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Bay Area spillover: Farmworker housing crisis has people sleeping in dining rooms | Lou Hansen, Randy Vazquez | The fallout over the super high housing prices in the Bay Area continues, and the Mercury News and the reporting did an excellent job of finding a segment of the population truly affected by it. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 5th | Los Angeles Times | California farmers are planting solar panels as water supplies dry up | Sammy Roth | This is another very interesting piece about famers finding a new crop - in this case, they are raising electricity instead of crops. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 1st | Sacramento News & Review | Hunting poachers | Scott Anderson | Well reported and written piece on an interesting topic. Many diverse sources add context to the story. Vivid details set the scene for the reader and show that the author went to great lengths to get the story. Specific facts put the problem into context. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 2nd | Santa Maria Sun | Displaced | Kasey Bubnash | Well reported look at the economics of housing in the ag industry. Story is well written, using one family's experience to guide the reader through the issue. Photos and graphs round out the package. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 3rd | Chico News & Review | PG&E's Miocene Canal debacle | Ashiah Scharaga | Good comprehensive series that lays out the issue and explores in-depth an important water source for many users. The series is well sources and each part is topped |
| Agricultural Reporting | 4th | Santa Maria Sun | Struggling to get along | Zac Ezzone | Nice in-depth look at two ag industries and their conflicts as they attempt to coexist. Well sourced and good color pull the reader into the story. Ending is a bit tangential and could be trimmed. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 5th | Comstock's Magazine | Shouldering the Burden | Sena Christian | Nice package with photos and words. Good anecdotes and colorful description. The author puts us on the farms. The nut graf up top could give more of a sense of why this matters, and some good facts and statistics that are buried in the lower third could be sprinkled throughout the piece. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 1st | The Business Journal | Raising the good ol' raisin | David Castellon | An innovative and fresh look at a familiar topic. Nutrition is examined in a thorough manner accompanied by a great layout and top-notch photography. All around a solid, fun and impressive piece of work. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 2nd | The Business Journal | Hemp Series | David Castellon | Well researched. The photography is vivid and stands out and it makes a nice blend with the excellent copy. Well researched and great use of author's voice and of elucidating a complex agricultural issue. Well done. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 3rd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Beefing about beef | Matt Brown | The lead is engaging and the feature has a nice mixture of photos and written copy. A sound effort. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 4th | Santa Ynez Valley Star | Olive do it by hand | Raiza Giorgi | Solid writing and nice photos and layout. |
| Agricultural Reporting | 5th | Half Moon Bay Review | Floraculture business pleads poverty, courts cannabis | Ashlyn Rollins-Koons | A thorough look at this complex topic. Well researched, well written and nicely packaged. A great read throughout. |
| Profile Story | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Finding Kyle | Lizzie Johnson | A powerful, personal story. Lizzie Johnson’s straight-forward writing is grounded in empathy. Three stories are skillfully interwoven: Kyle’s life, his family’s pain and the push for a suicide barrier for one of California’s most well-known landmarks. Many visual details — the plastic glass of orange juice in the cupholder, the family grocery cart now being lighter, pulling petals off the rose — are constant connections, helping the reader not just feel, but also see. A nice mix of photographs complemented by a helpful graphic of the suicide barrier. This is an important story shared in an impactful way. |
| Profile Story | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | She feeds Bel-Air's mega-mansion boom. But lunch is a battlefield. | Sonja Sharp | Smart and insightful, this story rolls right along. Sonja Sharp’s profile of Jennifer Ramirez and her red lunch truck offers a unique perspective on the socioeconomic divide, sharing a scene that is unseen by many. Great juxtapositions throughout — high school student leaving school to help family sells lunches to workers building 40,000-square-foot mansions (complete with rooms for manicures and Botox). Wonderful, descriptive phrasing: “homes the size of strip malls,” “lumbering scarlet workhorse,” “how skilled labor is valued relative to Italian marble or Canary Island date palms.” The many photographs capture the spirit of the story (and narrowness of the roads). An important, relevant and very original story. |
| Profile Story | 3rd | The Orange County Register | A decade after Great Recession chewed him up, homeless DJ feels almost back | Theresa Walker | Great lede. Theresa Walker writes with clarity and humanity in this profile of Jim Henry and how he was impacted by The Great Recession. There are a lot of complexities to homelessness. Devoting the time to follow one person over two years provides important perspectives for readers. The photographs and video are key to this package, helping readers better know Jim Henry. |
| Profile Story | 4th | Los Angeles Times | To bring a boy’s murderers to justice, a prosecutor wrestled with his own childhood abuse | Marisa Gerber, Francine Orr | Marisa Gerber’s story of a prosecutor on a high-profile child-abuse case dealing with his own childhood trauma covers troubling territory, but does so deftly. It is a compelling piece. That Jon Hatami shared his story so openly indicates trust built by the reporter. The photos capture emotion and are essential in telling the story too. The ones of Hatami experiencing joy with his children provide a nice counterbalance to some of the tough details in this story. |
| Profile Story | 5th | Los Angeles Times | He went to jail as a fake doctor. Now he’s a real one: The saga of Adam Litwin, MD | Soumya Karlamangla | Interesting story about a peculiar situation. Interviews from those who knew the faux doctor provide important context. |
| Profile Story | 1st | The Modesto Bee | Modesto Man's Lost Identity: 'I Feel Like Nothing' | Deke Farrow | This story grabbed me from the very beginning. Hearing the daughter scream at the police for her father's safety. It's a piece that was heartfelt, well written and just a wonderful window into the struggles of this man's life. |
| Profile Story | 2nd | The Fresno Bee | Woman waves at Fresno traffic for hours each day. She gives joy and happy hallelujahs | Carmen George | This story resonated with me from the start. Women have such wonderful stories to be told of courage, of direct change and influence, and this piece showcased such a unique story. |
| Profile Story | 3rd | The Bakersfield Californian | ‘If you make good food, people will come.’: Punjabi food vendors see an opportunity in Bakersfield’s sweeping demographic changes | Steven Mayer | Food speaks to the heart of many and it's a unifier between cultures. This piece truly showcased that and I appreciated it. Now, I can't wait to visit my folks in Bakersfield and try this food truck for myself. |
| Profile Story | 4th | The Bakersfield Californian | ‘They set my shop on fire three times in 24 hours’: But ‘Uncle’ Larry still in Oildale 50 years on | Steven Mayer | A great piece that showed such struggle and truly let the reader see what this man went through. |
| Profile Story | 5th | The Bakersfield Californian | 'You can still live': Stricken by stage 4 cancer, high school band director remains dedicated to her students, passion, purpose | Ema Sasic | I enjoyed the perspective and the descriptions of chaos of a high school band room juxtaposed with the teacher's own struggles. Great piece. |
| Profile Story | 1st | Napa Valley Register | They Served With Honor: Keeping the supply lines moving | Sean Scully | |
| Profile Story | 2nd | Napa Valley Register | The World in a Glass: Boisset's 'The Alchemy of the Senses' | Sasha Paulsen | |
| Profile Story | 3rd | The Tribune | ‘Radiator Don’ was a Paso treasure. But he died alone on the train tracks | Lindsey Holden, David Middlecamp | |
| Profile Story | 4th | The Record | Del Barba | Roger Phillips | |
| Profile Story | 5th | The Tribune | This Cal Poly student runs a restaurant out of his apartment. Now he's writing a cookbook | Sarah Linn, Joe Johnston | |
| Profile Story | 1st | The Salinas Californian | Waves of golf balls | Kate Cimini | Congrats to Kate Cimini on fascinating piece on father-daughter duo making a difference, a profile that shares the work they do, what they've learned from it and what impact they've made — as well as the why behind the work of Alex and Mike Weber. The story was well-written and uses photos, video and graphics to help tell the story. Well done. |
| Profile Story | 2nd | TimesOC | O.C. private investigator C.J. Ford fights for 'those nobody cares about' | Benjamin Brazil | Ben Brazils look at C.J. Ford helps shed light on an unsung hero in the community, not only reporting on the work that Ford does and the impact it has — particularly in the case of Kenneth Clair — but also why he does it by sharing Ford's story and how he arrived to this work. Well-written piece in a category of strong competition. |
| Profile Story | 3rd | Sacramento News & Review | The marriage guru | Raheem Hosseini | An interesting and in-depth look at an organization promoting shocking approaches to "self help" and marriage advice, focused on the nefarious character behind it. Strong category with several quality entries. |
| Profile Story | 4th | Sacramento News & Review | Unbreakable bond | Scott Anderson | Richard “Trino” Savala's contribution to his community is impressive and inspiring. Scott Thomas Anderson's writing is worthy of recognition among a strong field of entries. |
| Profile Story | 5th | The Salinas Californian | Fields to classrooms | Eduardo Cuevas | |
| Profile Story | 1st | Signal Tribune | Remembering Long Beach’s Santa Claus: Thomas “Ski” Demski | Lissette Mendoza | This was a really fun and well-written piece about an interesting and well-known community figure. Great use of submitted photos as well in layout. |
| Profile Story | 2nd | La Jolla Light | Jeffrey Junkins | Corey Levitan | This piece chronicled the difficult story of a Vietnam veteran's service and life after the war. Great use of quotes and details. |
| Profile Story | 3rd | Rancho Bernardo News Journal | Quads take the field for Maranatha soccer | Terry Monahan | A fun piece that featured concise and engaging writing about quadruplets playing on the same soccer team. |
| Profile Story | 4th | San Clemente Times | Before He Made San Clemente, Ole Hanson Made Headlines as a Seattle Mayor in 1919 | Fred Swegles | A well-written historical feature that clearly involved a lot of research. |
| Profile Story | 5th | Pleasanton Weekly | Amazing Voyage | Jeb Bing | Great profile that weaves together details of the musician's particular music style with the larger message he sends in his work. |
| Profile Story | 1st | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Turn On, Tune In, Stream Live | Rosellen "Rosie" Downey | This was an engaging way to tell this story to a wider audience. |
| Profile Story | 2nd | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | The Hand That Rocked the Cradles | Kate Williams | The story was a fascinating look at a bigger issue. |
| Profile Story | 3rd | The Davis Enterprise | Turning the corner | Anne Ternus-Bellamy | |
| Profile Story | 4th | Petaluma Argus-Courier | The Dean of Yosemite | Matt Brown | |
| Profile Story | 5th | North Bay Business Journal | Rethinking Ice Cream | Cheryl Sarfaty | |
| Profile Story | 1st | Paradise Post | Recovering hope | Audria Ruscitti | Unique story that is told well. |
| Profile Story | 2nd | Ojai Valley News | Sole Survivor | Perry Van Houten | The details of this story make for a compelling narrative. |
| Profile Story | 3rd | The Weekly Calistogan | NASA astronaut inspires youth to follow their dreams | Cynthia Sweeney | Great job of telling an interesting person's life story. |
| Profile Story | 4th | Claremont Courier | From father to sons: Styles Music outlasts them all | Mick Rhodes, Steven Felschundneff | Great storytelling. |
| Profile Story | 5th | St. Helena Star | Sailing the Atlantic for nine months changed the life of a St. Helena teen | Jesse Duarte | Great storytelling. |
| Feature Story | 1st | Los Angeles Times | 60 hours, 50 abortions: A California doctor’s monthly commute to a Texas clinic | Soumya Karlamangla, Gina Ferazzi | Abortion divides the nation, generally between the group supporting a womans' right to choose and evangelicals "right to life" stance. Both sides should read this well done feature for perspective. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | The San Diego Union-Tribune | Grieving mothers' 26-year quest for justice | J. Harry Jones | Clear writing about the grief of mothers and their search for justice. A difficult story/situation well told by the author. |
| Feature Story | 3rd | The Orange County Register | Using DNA tests, Dwight Manley found his birth father: L.A. politician Mike Antonovich | Theresa Walker | Everybody loves a happy ending and this feature has one. Very readable feature. |
| Feature Story | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Take a ride along the Punjabi American highway | Jaweed Kaleem, Irfan Khan | A story that celebrates the melting pot of America and the difficulties sometimes attached. Very nice read. |
| Feature Story | 5th | San Francisco Chronicle | Under Fire | Lizzie Johnson | Another feel-good story about a bad disaster. |
| Feature Story | 1st | The Fresno Bee | Clovis teacher’s students rally to give her ‘year of a lifetime’ as she battles cancer | Carmen George | A real tear-jerker, told with compassion and care. Well organized and clearly presented. Overall exceptional package. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | The Modesto Bee | Modesto Man's Lost Identity: 'I Feel Like Nothing' | Deke Farrow | A man lost in his own world. The writer shows the pain and loss of understanding for this man and his family. Compelling read. |
| Feature Story | 3rd | The Modesto Bee | A love that spans 72 years | Deke Farrow | A real love story and lesson for all of use to learn about our commitments and vows. Clear and inviting writing. |
| Feature Story | 4th | The Bakersfield Californian | Suspended priest Craig Harrison, back from self-exile, formulates his defense | Robert Price | Tough subject to tackle but done with care and consideration for all sides. Author has a way with words and construction. |
| Feature Story | 5th | The Bakersfield Californian | And now, the final scene of the final episode of the epic Harrell-Fritts saga | Robert Price | A sad story of what happened - and is happening - to the industry. Very well organized with a solid touch of humanity. |
| Feature Story | 1st | The Tribune | These eel-like fish look like horror movie monsters — and they’re back in SLO Creek | Monica Vaughan, Joe Johnston | Exceptional writing, description, videos, photos and one graphic. Something for everyone about an unusual but interesting subject. Examples: eel-like parasites with sucker mouths ... vampires of the sea ... wiggles similar to doing the worm on the dance floor ... slitherly species." Also, good historical and food-chain information. An informational and fun read. Well done. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | Santa Maria Times | Conjoined twins 'sent for a purpose' | Mike Hodgson | Compelling read. Clear and well organized. A very newsy feature. A final follow a few months later would have made the package even stronger. |
| Feature Story | 3rd | Chico Enterprise-Record | Concow families rebuild with lumber from their burned trees | Camille von Kaenel | There is a bit of a run-on lead but the writing improves with several strong word pictures such as: The mountainside was burned so hot is looked like the moon; the red-dirt hills are spotted with a trailer or tent where people have moved back; escaped with the chickens and goat; satisfying feeling of taking wood from your own land and building something." In two fires, "I've lost my young stuff and my family stuff; it is humbling to be a fire victim and fire helper." A strong story of survival. |
| Feature Story | 4th | Record Searchlight | Mystery surrounds last person missing from Camp Fire | Damon Arthur | Good video and photos. Good sourcing. Good news value. Clear and organized writing. A good mystery read. A real people tale. |
| Feature Story | 5th | Visalia Times-Delta | The Ku Klux Klan and Visalia: A legacy of racism that hasn't died | James Ward, Calley Cederlof | Extremely well done, but should have been in an investigative news category - not feature. Still an excellent effort and important story to tell. |
| Feature Story | 1st | Santa Barbara Independent | In Cryonics Lawsuit, Son Fighters for Father’s Frozen Head | Tyler Hayden | A wonderful story. It was well written and reported. The story did a great job of helping me learn about this complicated science while also feeling as if I was reading a short story. Some great lines in there about losing his job and his wife and the ending with you just don't Google how to get your dad's head back. The tone and boldness in the writing was perfect because this reporter owned this subject. I can't wait to learn and read more about this family and the lawsuit as well as stories about this company. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | Sacramento News & Review | Midnight burning | Scott Anderson | Fantastic story that flowed and left me wanting to learn and keep reading. The punchline at the end of the first section was perfect. It read like a journalism novel. Pieces like this take a lot of in depth research and reporting and require getting sources to open up to you in truly personal and authentic ways. Fantastic work. |
| Feature Story | 3rd | Good Times | Gonzo But Not Forgotten | Wallace Baine | A fascinating read told as dramatically and boldly as the man it's about. It was written like a movie script from the beginning. |
| Feature Story | 4th | Good Times | Psychedelics Go Therapeutic | Wallace Baine | Very interesting and woven in a way that moved me through the debate and controversy but focused on the storytelling. I love when I finish a good story and I know I learned something I didn't know and I want to read more. |
| Feature Story | 5th | The Salinas Californian | Posadas | David Rodriguez | Great feature. Good writing with vivid images and quotes from those impacted. It did not do a good job of talking with those opposed, though, I thought. But did a great job of exploring a community tradition that was dying due to the current realities of today, from economics to racial strife in some ways, too. |
| Feature Story | 1st | North Coast Journal | Bringing Prey-go-neesh Home | Kimberly Wear | This is a compelling package based on a story with a strong sense of place. The reporting is solid, the writing is compelling and the supporting photos, maps and graphics elevate the sophistication. The reporter invested time in reporting details that turned an interesting topic into a fascinating read. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | La Jolla Light | Heroism of former La Jolla lifeguard Jeff Koch, namesake of under-repair cave, nearly falls through cracks | Corey Levitan | The reporter seized on a great opportunity -- turning a routine news story into a compelling read. The narrative retelling of the rescue was well-structured and the reporter is commended for investing in the effort to locate the victim and organizing a reunion among the two key players. Great job. |
| Feature Story | 3rd | Comstock's Magazine | Record Spinners | Matthew Keys | The packaging elevate this interesting story. It's evident that the reporter invested time in the reporting. The story is packed with details. While this is an interesting read, the organization of the story could have been helped with more solid transitions. |
| Feature Story | 4th | Palos Verdes Peninsula News | An Adventure in a DC-3 | Deborah Paul | This was a great story opportunity. The subject matter was compelling and the retelling of their adventure had great potential. The writing was a bit flat, however. |
| Feature Story | 5th | Pleasanton Weekly | The gentle giants of Mount Diablo | Ryan J. Degan | The migration of tarantulas -- what an interesting topic. The reporter took a routing event and turned it into a good story. |
| Feature Story | 1st | Glendale News-Press | Glendale couple sues fertility clinic after woman gives birth to their son in embryo snafu | Andy Nguyen | Well written story showing local compassion to a national topic. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | Mountain Democrat | Deputy comes home for last time | Pat Lakey | A well-told story giving the reader a sense of place at a time when the community came together, |
| Feature Story | 3rd | North Bay Business Journal | Consoling the most fragile | Cheryl Sarfaty | A seemingly unusual local story bringing humanity to the fore with national information. |
| Feature Story | 4th | La Canada Flintridge Outlook | LCFEF Marks Four Decades as Solid Schools Foundation | Camila Castellanos, Mark Geers | A nice tribute to a school foundation adding great value to its community. |
| Feature Story | 5th | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Bloom or Bust | Jody Meacham | A well researched piece delving into a company and its world-wide vision. |
| Feature Story | 1st | The Ark | Couple’s work with March of Dimes helps turn ‘pain into purpose’ | Emily Lavin | A well-written human-interest story, lots of telling detail. Heart-warming. |
| Feature Story | 2nd | The Ark | County struggles to prioritize housing for bay’s anchor-outs | Gretchen Lang | A story that focuses on an issue very specific to its neighborhood has ramifications for the entire state. Humanizes one of the most pressing issues facing the community. |
| Feature Story | 3rd | The Ark | Tiburon cancer survivor leads fundraising to launch yoga program at Benioff hospital | Emily Lavin | Another strong human-interest story, easy for readers to identify with. |
| Feature Story | 4th | Calaveras Enterprise | PAWS celebrates 35 years of rescue, activism, education | Dakota Morlan | A tale that could have been trite, uses telling quotes. A good read. |
| Feature Story | 5th | Claremont Courier | An Old Fashioned Courtship | Steven Felschundneff | A sweet neighborhood tale, makes one want to live there. |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Santa Monica’s recycling center closure is a sign of what’s to come | Mariel Garza | Strong writing, effective argument on an important topic. Educates the reader while providing necessary nuance. |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Santa Clarita shooting: It’s the guns. It’s always the guns | Scott Martelle | Effective direct writing style; great use of statistics to further their argument. |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | California’s misguided protest of Trump bullet-train cutoff | Daniel Borenstein | Good, snappy argument with strong context on a longstanding topic of debate. |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | San Francisco Chronicle | Impeach and Remove Him: San Francisco Chronicle | Josh Gohlke | Comprehensive commentary, but still engaging. |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Seeking shelter? Good luck | Carla Hall | Intriguing first-person account with a good personalized story. Good pointing out what needs to be fixed; reader might want a few more direct options for how to fix. |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | The Desert Sun | Quakes show Palm Springs-area residents at risk in media cutoff from police radio | Al Franco | This could have devolved into a whine about access, but instead showed exactly why the issue is important tothe public. Well done. |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | The Fresno Bee | Censure is not harsh enough for Fresno Unified’s Terry Slatic. He must resign now | Tad Weber | No waffling here. Strong statement. |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | The Modesto Bee | Only after some prodding does Mayor Brandvold make a move | Garth Stapley | More about disservice to public by avoiding speech would have made this stronger. Still, point made. |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | The Desert Sun | California lawmakers, lavish junkets are burning your constituents | Al Franco | |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | The Modesto Bee | Ceres officer should have faced charges for shooting boy in the back | Garth Stapley | |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | The Tribune | Police transparency law is shielding bad cops — and state lawmakers need to fix it | Stephanie Finucane | Rather than settle for recent improvements in California law on police accountability and transparency, this editorial points to a flaw that needs correcting and makes a persuasive case for further progress on the issue. It demonstrates a detailed grasp of a local case of police misconduct and how the law should be changed to address the problem. |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | Marin Independent Journal | Why did most Marin cell towers stop working during PG&E safety outage? | Brad Breithaupt | This editorial spotlights a telecommunications failure with potentially dire consequences in future emergencies and makes a clear, strong case for addressing the problem before it's too late. |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | Marin Independent Journal | Positive steps for Sausalito, Marin City schools | Brad Breithaupt | Looks at a story that could be cast as a state-local back-and-forth and shows no fear of taking a side with a clear, informed argument about the consequences of segregation in education. |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | Visalia Times-Delta | Devin Nunes' lawsuit against McClatchy a threat to local news, democracy | James Ward | Recognizes the dangers inherent in a congressman's lawsuit against another media organization and effectively dismantles the lawmaker's rationale. |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | The Record | Death penalty | Record Staff | Makes compelling points about the waste and futility of our capital punishment system. |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | Palo Alto Weekly | When local government leaders refuse to answer questions, they become their own worst enemies | Bill Johnson | Well presented argument for public information combined with calling out public servants who duck and run at the mere thought of potential controversy. |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | Sacramento News & Review | The 2019 Grinches: Enablers edition | Sacramento News & Review Staff, Raheem Hosseini | Covers a wide range of grinches with succinct and amusing criticism. Betting readers look forward to what looks to be an annual effort. |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | Metro Silicon Valley | Blood Sport | Dan Pulcrano | A cautionary tale that goes well beyond Silicon Valley. Humanizes the consequences of financial fraud. |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | Santa Barbara Independent | Finding the Miramar’s Line in the Sand | Tyler Hayden | An effort to be fair to the "new" hotel may be a little overboard, but the overall isue is huge here in California. |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | The Acorn | Bold move by school district | John Loesing | This topic is bound to be controversial in any school district that tries to address it. It's as important to praise public officials who show some fortitude as it is to criticize those who run the other way. |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | Pleasanton Weekly | Livermore downtown referendum raises serious questions | Gina Channell | This entry explains to readers what is happening on a key local issue and, importantly, outlines action steps for readers. |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | The Almanac | Menlo Park council moves swiftly in the right direction | Renee Batti | This entry makes a clear argument and names names on who did right. |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | Pleasanton Weekly | Did a bunny book really lead to superintendent’s ouster? | Gina Channell | A good use of the public records law to inform readers. This entry would have placed higher with more reporting and a little less speculation. |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | Pleasanton Weekly | District-based elections do not make sense here | Gina Channell | This editorial makes a clear and compelling argument on an important issue. |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | Poway News Chieftain | PH leaves public in dark over maps | Steve Dreyer | A strong watchdog entry. It would have placed higher if the writing had been somewhat clearer. |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | "Another Day, Another Mass Shooting" | Jason Walsh | |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | "Anti-Gay Comments Paint Troubling Picture" | Jason Walsh | |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | The Davis Enterprise | A real Christmas miracle | Bruce Gallaudet | |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | Petaluma Argus-Courier | America, love it or change it | Matt Brown | |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | "The True Price of Higher Education" | Jason Walsh | |
| Editorial Comment | 1st | Half Moon Bay Review | Too often justice in local courts lost in translation | Clay Lambert | Problem is clearly laid out with multiple examples. Call for action at end is well-stated. Nicely done. |
| Editorial Comment | 2nd | St. Helena Star | Housing must be our top priority | David Stoneberg, Jesse Duarte | Excellent presentation of facts to support call more for affordable housing in region. Well done. |
| Editorial Comment | 3rd | Half Moon Bay Review | City's vision for Main Street is myopic | Clay Lambert | Well-crafted editorial criticizing a councilmember's overreaching and endorsing the right of a property owner who is being victimized. |
| Editorial Comment | 4th | St. Helena Star | Time to ban vaping sales in St. Helena | David Stoneberg, Jesse Duarte | This one was good, but a little long-winded. A little editing would have tightened up the message. |
| Editorial Comment | 5th | The Trinity Journal | Board should try for more transparency, less bullshit | Wayne Agner | Gotta love the guts to use that word. Keep up the public records fight, but you need to edit to keep the reader from getting overwhelmed by facts. |
| Columns | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Sidewalk boulders an emblem of crisis; Addict’s journey from streets to cell, through mother’s eyes | Heather Knight | Heather's columns have in spades what so many others lack: Reportage. These aren't merely writerly, they are opinion backed by fact. And the interviews with the Choates clearly took a lot of investment. Great work in a difficult category. |
| Columns | 2nd | The Orange County Register | Henry’s is the most ambitious restaurant Huntington Beach has seen in years, or maybe ever; Knife Pleat teeters on the verge of greatness but isn’t quite there yet | Brad A. Johnson | These are just so delicious. This is food most of us will eat only rarely, but the writing should be a staple in every diet. I would read these food columns every day. |
| Columns | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | State needs new housing strategy; Newsom needs to take the lead on housing crisis | George Skelton | Great lede and great crisp writing about a tired topic. That isn't easy to do. This is terrific column-writing. |
| Columns | 4th | The Sacramento Bee | Biba dies at 82. Her restaurant introduced a dining renaissance with a welcoming soul; ‘Dad, this is what I want to do.’ Now, father of fallen cop mourns. | Marcos Breton | These columns really deserve a blue ribbon, but it's such a tough category. These provide very particular insights into the area and could only be written by someone who knows the place. |
| Columns | 5th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Oakland A’s private ballpark will be taxpayer-subsidized; Cyclist might be alive if California parks hadn’t ignored judge’s order | Daniel Borenstein | An important topic with writing to match. The history makes the thing. Here's hoping it led to change on that road. |
| Columns | 1st | Los Angeles Daily News | A parent’s terrifying morning as chaos unfolded during Saugus High School shooting; For parents, picking up the pieces after deadly Saugus shooting is no simple task | Timothy Haddock | Very evocative and compelling. A rare glimpse inside the environment of a school shooting. |
| Columns | 2nd | The Fresno Bee | Fresno police gunned down an unarmed teenager from behind. Are we OK with this?; By suing Twitter and parody account @DevinCow, Nunes makes himself a laughingstock | Marek Warszawski | Good stuff. Very pointed. Police shooting story was a really uncomfortable read - as it should have been. |
| Columns | 3rd | The Desert Sun | The Desert Sun opinion pages are taking a summer vacation from national politics. You can help us!; Join us for a free screening of '5B,' an AIDS documentary with a Palm Springs connection | Julie Makinen | Interesting mix of newspaper insight and personal experience. Both were a little long, however, particularly the News Vacation piece. |
| Columns | 4th | The Press Democrat | Veteran’s epic performance a convincing statement; Prep football games shouldn’t end like Sonoma’s did | Kerry Benefield | Good range of sports, good command of detail at all levels of sports. Interesting reads. |
| Columns | 5th | The Bakersfield Californian | Robert Price columns: McCarthy needs to catch a different train while he can; and Dana Butler deserves once last chance at justice | Robert Price | Very effective and insightful, if a little long. |
| Columns | 1st | Marin Independent Journal | After 36 years, jazz drummer Michael Aragon plays final gigs at Sausalito’s No Name Bar; Former kickboxer Andrew Hagar fighting out of his famous father’s shadow | Paul Liberatore | Beautifully written |
| Columns | 2nd | Marin Independent Journal | Worst part of Tam High’s scavenger hunt isn’t the hunt; it’s the misogyny; Sorry, kids, but your parents don’t think you’re good enough | Vicki Larson | Strong voice, concise and clearly written |
| Columns | 3rd | Imperial Valley Press | Rosie strikes again; The happiest place on earth | Tom Bodus | |
| Columns | 4th | Daily Press | Bruce Bochy’s magical Mavs; The ties that bind | Matthew Cabe | |
| Columns | 5th | Napa Valley Register | Blindsided by PG&E; Lessons learned from the PG&E outages | Kevin Courtney | |
| Columns | 1st | Palos Verdes Peninsula News | There's no replacement for a good husband, but she'll settle for this doohickey; She's still holding on after letting her family into deceased husband's closet | Jean Shriver | Poignant, relatable and heartfelt. In "There's no replacement for a good husband, but she'll settle for this doohickey," the writer draws attention to the little things about a person and a relationship that you never think of appreciating until after they're gone. I enjoyed the image of her and the young employee's interaction. The second entry about cleaning out her husband's closet had me close to tears throughout. I loved everything about it, particularly the line "If jackets had eyebrows, I imagined them shooting up." This is the kind of opinion piece that has universal appeal, I think, and her honesty and raw emotion are evident in her writing. |
| Columns | 2nd | Grunion Gazette | An Adventure In Grandfathering; What Exactly Is It Now You’re Running From? | Harry Saltzgaver | I enjoyed the author's quick and relatable takes on being a grandfather and a husband. I like how each had a "reason" and were well rounded pieces that I enjoyed reading. |
| Columns | 3rd | Grunion Gazette | Cabrillo Falls To Soccer’s Cruel Streak; Dream Now Real For Mora | JJ Fiddler | I enjoyed the topic of life lessons through soccer. Both were well written and as a sports fan, I enjoyed seeing how a coach is teaching his players how to act with class and good sportsmanship in the face of a difficult game. The second entry on the young Venezuelan refugee was eye opening and a hot topic that I enjoyed reading. |
| Columns | 4th | Grunion Gazette | Let’s Name Library For Billie Jean; Local Hero King Back For Library | Mike Guardabascio | I like that the column made an impact on the community and might have sparked interest in having the library named after Billie Jean King. Brought interest to a topic the writer felt strongly about. Good background on King and well written. |
| Columns | 5th | San Francisco Business Times | The mystery of Market Street; Vacancy tax proposal in S.F. is especially empty-headed | Doug Fruehling | The description of Market Street and its possible treasures made me feel like I was there. Well written. The second entry was convincing and well written, with well made points. |
| Columns | 1st | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | The true price of higher education; The city of no return | Jason Walsh | |
| Columns | 2nd | The Cambrian | ‘It was just meant to be’: How three people came together over tragedy — and guitars; Are there really ‘no dumb questions’ — just a lot of inquisitive idiots? | Kathe Tanner | |
| Columns | 3rd | Del Mar Times | Parkland students still passionate about gun control; Improving public education | Marsha Sutton | |
| Columns | 4th | The Davis Enterprise | Natalie is a gift we should be thankful for; Family filled with amazing grace | Bob Dunning | |
| Columns | 5th | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Yes, Sonoma, there is a Santa Claus; In Sonoma, change is relative | Jason Walsh | |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 1st | The San Diego Union-Tribune | Arts+Culture: Sept. 15 & 22, 2019 | Union-Tribune Arts & Entertainment Staff | Beautiful presentation of local Legends; great photography, good writing, impactful design. A real keeper and true celebration of the arts. Also handled well the usual arts section furniture (listings, etc.). Very nice job! |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | The Envelope: Dec. 10 & 12, 2019 | Los Angeles Times Staff | Good writing, good photos, good subject matter. Really enjoyed presentation on the directors' takes. Great stuff all around! |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | Datebook: June 9 & 16, 2019 | Datebook Staff San Francisco Chronicle | Very solid (and jam-packed) local arts and entertainment sections with a distinctly SF feel. Good job! |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 4th | The Desert Sun | Arts & Entertainment: Oct. 27 (including Desert Magazine) & Nov. 3, 2019 ( | Kristin Scharkey | Really nice features magazine; well designed, written and photographed. Enjoyed the cover! |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 5th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Eye: Nov. 21 & 28, 2019 | Randy McMullen, Trinity Powells | Good, solid, local arts and entertainment sections. Looks good, could read better. Very event driven. |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 1st | Chico News & Review | Arts & Culture: Feb. 14 & 21, 2019 | Jason Cassidy, Nate Daly, Neesa Sonoquie | Strong writing and a strong sense of community make this my winning selection. There's a great mix of stories -- movies, minimalist music, shadow boxes of death, winter beers. Much appreciation of the Weird Chico issue (only a publication that truly knows its community would attempt that). The story on the return of Theater on the Ridge is lovely. Design is attractive and calendar listings are thorough. Great resource for the community. |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 2nd | Good Times | Arts & Entertainment: March 20 & 27, 2019 | Steve Palopoli, Tabi Zarrinnaal | Nice design and clever headlines. Writing has spark and stories have community at the core (I love the "Us" story focusing on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk setting). Attractive calendar with lots of photos and events. |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 3rd | Metro Silicon Valley | Arts & Entertainment Coverage: Jan. 30 & Feb. 6, 2019 | Nick Veronin, Wallace Baine, Mike Huguenor | Comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. "Metroactive" is a unique and effective way to showcase events. Thorough events listings. Design of centerpiece stories is strong. |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 4th | North Coast Journal | Arts & Entertainment Coverage: May 23 & 30, 2019 | North Coast Journal Staff | Fun, agile writing with lots of visual details. The writing makes this a welcoming, fun-to-read section. Listings are thorough and would be easy to use. Great community resource. |
| Arts & Entertainment Coverage | 5th | Bohemian | Welcome to Lumaville: New film captures weird side of Petaluma | Charlie Swanson | This story is all about community. It nicely embraces Petaluma's quirkiness -- telling the story of a film by intertwining lots of different local perspectives and ties to Petaluma (film history of the region, hometown ties of the actress, cameos by local characters, etc.). Well done! |
| Sports Game Story | 1st | Chico Enterprise-Record | Avrit serves 1 last point with Braves | Will Denner | Will Denner is able to capture the emotional moment of the game through a tense build-up that encourages the reader to keep reading. |
| Sports Game Story | 2nd | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | In Paradise, Friday Night Lights is more than a game | Elliott Almond | The author puts the reader right in the middle of the scene. You can also tell they have been following (or been a part of) the tragedy in Paradise through subtle observations such as "C.M.F." Great job also getting quotes not just from players and coaches, but fans. |
| Sports Game Story | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | Warriors' Season Ends: San Francisco Chronicle | Connor Letourneau | You can feel the pain the Warriors and their fans felt after this game. The article does a good job raising the question, "what now?" |
| Sports Game Story | 4th | The Press Democrat | Triumph and tears | Kerry Benefield | Builds on a theme set in the lead without being repetitive. Also shows that the writer has followed the team for awhile and has inside knowledge. |
| Sports Game Story | 5th | San Francisco Chronicle | Young Yaz Goes Home: San Francisco Chronicle | Henry Schulman | Good job identifying highlighting an interesting historical aspect in what could've been another gamer. |
| Sports Game Story | 1st | Simi Valley Acorn | Pioneers reach out but fall short | Jonathan Andrade | This piece really had it all: creative, evocative use of language; a succinct, well-placed retelling of the game; and terrific reporting, capturing wonderful quotes and sentiments from those involved. I felt like the opening graphs transported me to the rainy, cold night of the game while the retelling of events gave me a great sense of what transpired, and then the insight from players and coaches humanized those involved. I felt bad for the kids who lost despite not ever having heard of their school or the players at any point prior. This was really a wonderfully written and reported story. |
| Sports Game Story | 2nd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | St. Vincent holds off CSD in wild finish | John Jackson | This piece was very, very funny at times, did a really nice job of capturing the roller coaster excitement of the game and really transported me to the event. I also enjoyed some of the structural chances the author took toward the end, repeating the same line about neither team accomplishing what seemed like a reasonable goal. It was a fun, risky decision that worked for me. |
| Sports Game Story | 3rd | The Davis Enterprise | Ag women dismantle Titans | Bruce Gallaudet | I liked the humor of this piece and got a terrific sense for the players involved. Really good reporting and a fun retelling of the game. Super solid reporting with some fun, humorous risks that ended up reading great. |
| Sports Game Story | 4th | The Ark | Paul clinches Tiburon Challenger | Matthew Hose | This was just super, super solid sports reporting. Very, very well written. Easy to read, informative and captured the back and forth of the finals matches very nicely. A really professional, experienced piece of sports reporting. |
| Sports Game Story | 5th | Grunion Gazette | LBSU Men's Volleyball National Champs | Mike Guardabascio | I enjoyed the look back quality of this story. Excellent reporting, with nice insight from players and coaches. But I thought the strength of this work was the look back at the season and capturing so much of what the team went through and bringing much of that back to life. Super solid work. |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Bruce Bochy's Walk-off | John Shea | The day-in-the-life narrative is a great way to describe how the man and his personality fit in with his job, his career, and the people he works with. |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Football family seeks answers | Nathan Fenno | Good read, including a profile of the player before and after his injury, plus a detailed description of the science behind research into CTE. |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Trona is shaken and stirred | David Wharton, Dania Maxwell | A small town high school maintains its football program in the face of dwindling enrollment. A good look at a program where adversity affects an entire school. |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Many try, but few finish, the world’s toughest baseball quiz | Bill Shaikin | This is a fun way to explore this topic, showing that there is still plenty that even the most ardent sports fans don’t know about. |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | San Francisco Examiner | Mission High's CJ Pino heads to Skyline looking for a chance | Ryan Gorcey | Inspiring look at how one player has faced adversity his entire life and continued to succeed. |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | Ventura County Star | Newbury Park High's Nico Young is built to run, and run fast | Joe Curley | A compelling story that's well told. The lead photo and headline do a great job of capturing the spectacle of watching the nation's best cross-country runner do his thing. The writing and reporting are dynamite. Well done. |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Friday Night Lights | Shad Powers | Strong, conversational writing. Really nice job fleshing out the character of the coach. |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Izzy Ramirez defies the odds | Andrew John, Taya Gray | A really nice presentation of a community rallying around an injured teen. |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | The Press Democrat | Descending on holy ground one last time | Phil Barber | A fitting paean for the end of an era at the Coliseum. The story also does a fine job of summarizing how we got to this moment and the team's prior abandonment of Oakland. |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | Ventura County Star | After suffering concussion, Thousand Oaks player made difficult decision to quit football | Loren Ledin | A thoughtful examination of one family's decision process in a difficult situation. |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | Santa Cruz Sentinel | Legendary coach Bill Dodge, 90, gets to support beloved Cardinals with the help of baseball star Javier Felix | Jim Seimas | This story was far and away the best of the 25 I judged. It was well told, had strong emotional appeal and excellent background. My only criticism is that I wish it was described where that background came from. (Assuming not the subject due to his memory problems.) Fine over all effort. I also would like to commend this reporter's editors for allowing the time to do such work. I find that lacking from the work I see from many newsrooms. |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | Chico Enterprise-Record | Still good as gold | Sharon Martin | This story personalizes a national tragedy and delivers on its promise of doing so. That's just simply great reporting. It might have been deserving of a first, but if you want to know why it wasn't read the first-place story. |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | Imperial Valley Press | Community comes together to make a state champion | Aaron Bodus | A touching story with good background on how everyone helps this kid. |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | Chico Enterprise-Record | Rise of the women | Sharon Martin | Women's sports still don't get the recognition it deserves, so this story has social relevance. It is fairly well told with good depth on the athletes. It suffers a bit from a weak beginning. Describing a wrestling match or practice and using the sweaty grit of that would have improved the story greatly. |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | The Union | Fight of a lifetime: After battling anxiety and depression, fighter hopes his story helps others | Walter Ford | Coupling a common activity (sports) with a health issue that needs more exposure is important work. |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | The Salinas Californian | Back in the ring | Ayrton Ostly | An excellent profile of a town legend who endured a tragedy. This story is well-organized and it kept me hooked, which is a feat since I usually don't pay attention to boxing. There is also a good selection of photos to illustrate the profile. The best in class. |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Heart of a lion | Jonathan Andrade | An intriguing profile that had me on the edge of my seat when he recalled his experience of dodging the Borderline shooting incident. There's a great payoff at the end and I liked the use of a social media video to showcase the fighter's triumph in the ring. |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Corey Campos, a pigskin legend | Jonathan Andrade | This was the best profile of a high school athlete that I reviewed for this contest. The introduction is excellent since it doesn't reveal that Corey has Down syndrome until the end. The story made me want to read more about him and wonder how he's doing. Great work. |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | The Acorn | Hungry like the Wolff | Jonathan Andrade | A good profile of a high school star who made something out of himself after graduation. I wanted to read more about his life outside golf, instead of reading about one success after another. Overall, good work. |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | Simi Valley Acorn | Get his name right: It’s Adama Fall | Jonathan Andrade | A good profile of a high school athlete who has a fascinating backstory (that's not something that many HS athletes have). You did a good job of showing his likable personality. Excellent headline, BTW. |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | Moorpark Acorn | Heart of a champion | Jonathan Andrade | really enjoyed reading this. well done. liked the photos as well. stories about overcoming/facing adversity are always great reads! |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | Moorpark Acorn | Yaspelkis is the guy behind the guys | Jonathan Andrade | |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | Rancho Bernardo News Journal | Nighthawk running back tackles new foe - cancer | Terry Monahan | |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | The Almanac | In it to win | Kate Bradshaw | |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | Palos Verdes Peninsula News | Special needs students get the 'full high school' experience | Nicholas Ingram | |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | Burbank Leader | Vicky Oganyan is the 40-year-old freshman for Glendale college basketball | Jeff Tully | |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Who You Callin' Lady, Fellah? | Christian Kallen | |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | Sierra Sun | Match Point: Truckee volleyball player finds kidney donor; operation a success | Justin Scacco | |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | La Canada Flintridge Outlook | Biggest Athletic Moment in LCHS History? | Oscar Areliz | |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | Santa Clara Weekly | 1969 Little League World Series Champs Reunite at Briarwood Little League | Erica Towne | |
| Sports Feature Story | 1st | The Ark | Tiburon’s Elly Hakami inducted into NorCal Tennis Hall of Fame | Deirdre McCrohan | |
| Sports Feature Story | 2nd | Santa Ynez Valley Star | Wrestling to the Top | Brian Stanley | |
| Sports Feature Story | 3rd | Santa Ynez Valley Star | For the Love of the Game | Brian Stanley | |
| Sports Feature Story | 4th | Santa Ynez Valley Star | Trap Shooting Gold | Raiz Giorgi | |
| Sports Feature Story | 5th | Calaveras Enterprise | Teen discovers focus with tennis | Guy Dossi | |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 1st | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Aug. 11, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10, 2019 | Chris Gotsill, Pai | The "Can We Stop It?" layout is a gut punch. Stellar use of graphic design to help tell the story and a layout that gives it room to resonate. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 2nd | The Press Democrat | Jan. 27, Feb. 28 & Oct. 27, 2019 | Press Democrat Staff | The layouts of all three stories enhance and frame some excellent photographs. The design balances multiple stories into a comprehensive whole. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Feb. 4, April 14 & Sept. 26, 2019 | Los Angeles Times Staff | The graphic design on the Huawei story is the standout, but all the layouts are balanced and thoughtful. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 4th | The San Diego Union-Tribune | April 29, July 28 & Dec. 3, 2019 | Michael Price, Tyler Rau, Anthony Tarantino | The photo on "A Day of Sorrow, Prayer" is the standout and the quote above it is a great choice. Really beautiful. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 5th | San Francisco Chronicle | March 24, Oct. 6 & Dec. 19, 2019 | Design Staff San Francisco Chronicle | Excellent photographs and uniformly strong design on all of these. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Feb. 2, Feb. 3 & Nov. 3, 2019 | Los Angeles Times Staff | Excellent storytelling in the photography and the balancing of the placement of the photos. The publication's choice to keep the headlines and text simple and straightforward was a crucial one in making its layouts attractive and engaging. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 2nd | Napa Valley Register | On Wine: Oct. 25, 2019 | Jennifer Huffman, Simona Jurisic | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 3rd | The Press Democrat | Last Roar at Oracle | Elissa Torres | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 4th | Napa Valley Register | Your Business: Oct. 23, 2019 | Jennifer Huffman | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 5th | Napa Valley Register | Your Business: July 24, 2019 | Jennifer Huffman | The photographer is in the shot in the mirror. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 1st | Sacramento News & Review | Feb. 21, May 9 & Aug. 29, 2019 | Maria Ratinova, Sarah Hansel | This was an all-around great entry. The art for each front was splashy, but didn't trample the meaning and intentions of the cover stories. I would have wanted to pick up the papers right out of the box, and that is what you need to attract readers to the product. The "Job Killers" front was visually stunning and with the robotic hand coming in from the side, it gives an eeriness that many are feeling with some technology this days. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 2nd | Comstock's Magazine | February, July & September 2109 | Kelly Barr | This entry had a cleverness to it that took what could have just been cool cover art to another level. Addicted to Deadlines,” and We Hate Meetings,” grabs the readers' attention, and works as the gravy on top of the imagery. The collage is visually beautiful and paints a picture of a year's worth of stories. It was excellent work. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 3rd | Palo Alto Weekly | April 12, June 19 & Dec. 20, 2019 | Doug Young, Kristin Brown, Rosanna Kuruppu | With visually inviting colors and photos that helped tell the story before you get into reading it, this entry took on some very tough subjects. Sometimes using so much text over photos means you lose the meaning and the intentions of one or the other, but here it is a nice blend. They each draw you in and push you toward the content. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 4th | Chico News & Review | May 9, Oct. 3 & Oct. 24, 2019 | Tina Flynn | Thinking outside of the box and being not too on the nose is one of the visually-pleasing aspects of this entry. Seeing how small something can be, but yet so deadly paints a very eye-opening picture of how serious the opioid crisis is. There were a lot of ways that this idea could have been presented, but this gets right to the point. The "Crowd Control" art really brings the reader in to how serious of a problem this is becoming for the residents of Chico. Sometimes you don't put the aftermath of a tough fire into this context. The art shows a depth of the issue in a very clear way. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 5th | Thousand Oaks Acorn | April 25, July 25 & Nov. 7, 2019 | Timm Sinclair, Kyle Jorrey | The use of the photos in all parts of this entry were very well done. They helped tell and amplify the stories. These were nice, clean designs and the readers could follow each story and see the order of importance. Nice use of headline hierarchy, and well-written and informative headlines. Not too much continuous gray, which can sometimes bore readers. There were entry points into almost each story on the front, which keeps the readers’ attention. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 1st | Black Voice News | March 7, May 2 & July 18, 2019 | Chris Allen | Eye-catching illustrations, |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 2nd | Dana Point Times | May 24, Aug. 9 & Dec. 27, 2019 | Chelsie Rex, Lillian Boyd | Strong use of photos that don't include people, but illustrate the stories. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 3rd | The Folsom Telegraph | July 25, Sept. 19 & Nov. 7, 2019 | Bill Sullivan, Raleigh Hall, Shaden Solanji | The headline and photos work perfectly together. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 4th | Petaluma Argus-Courier | May 30, Oct. 31, Nov. 21 | Frank Marqua | A good mix of people photos. |
| Front Page Layout & Design | 5th | The Business Journal | May 10, May 17 & May 24, 2019 | Joe Verduzco, Ram Reyes, Gabriel Dillard | A strong mix of photos and illustrations. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 1st | Sacramento News & Review | Music Issue | Sarah Hansel | The entire spread is bold, colorful and loud — very fitting considering the subject matter. The photos really capture the energy and personality of the artists featured. Wonderful use of color adds pop to the pages without being distracting. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 2nd | North Coast Journal | Blackout | Jonathan Webster | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 3rd | Palo Alto Weekly | A Radio 'Miracle' | Doug Young | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 4th | San Clemente Times | A Doggone Good Time at the Ole Hanson Beach Club Pool | Chelsie Rex, Fred Swegles | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 5th | Sacramento News & Review | Beer Issue | Sarah Hansel | |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 1st | Sacramento Business Journal | An Aggressive Solar Mandate Looms | Stephanie Hays | Awesome lede graphic and type over doubletruck, Not much story on opening, but short overall. Cool graphic comparison of electricity use of appliances. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 2nd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Race to See the Future | Nadir Hussain | Pretty graphics that describe the topic complement story about the industry. Photos on later jump pages add new interest. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 3rd | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Turn On, Tune In, Stream Live | Nadir Hussain | Fun lede graphic treatment on photo links content. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 4th | The Ark | Desire to downsize drives renovation of Tiburon condo | Kevin Hessel | Light typography really accents photos. Use of before and after shots well done. |
| Inside Page Layout & Design | 5th | Silicon Valley Business Journal | Market or Movie? | Bethany Bickley | Good pictures, layout. |
| Photojournalism | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | July 31, Nov. 3 & Dec. 1, 2019 | San Francisco Chronicle Photo Staff | Great photography all around, exceptional photo story packages from homeless to wildfire to the Presidio. |
| Photojournalism | 2nd | The Press Democrat | Feb. 25, Oct. 25 & Oct. 31, 2019 | Press Democrat Staff | Strong news coverage and wildfire photos. |
| Photojournalism | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Feb. 10, March 3 & Dec. 22, 2019 | Desert Sun Staff | |
| Photojournalism | 4th | The Union | Feb. 22, Oct. 7 & Oct. 28, 2019 | Elias Funez | |
| Photojournalism | 1st | Silicon Valley Business Journal | March 29, April 19 & Oct. 11, 2019 | Vicki Thompson, Stan Olszewski, Brittany Hosea-Small, Doug Fairbairn | Excellent photography. Superb composition, lighting and appeal. Great job! |
| Photojournalism | 2nd | Claremont Courier | Feb. 22, April 19 & July 12, 2019 | Steven Felschundneff, Peter Weinberger, Kathryn Dunn | Great photography. Strong images. |
| Photojournalism | 3rd | Palo Alto Weekly | Feb. 8, April 12 & July 22, 2019 | Veronica Weber, Jenny Rodriguez, Keith Ferrell, Karen Hickey Ambrose | |
| Photojournalism | 4th | Mountain View Voice | Feb. 15; July 26 & Sept. 6, 2019 | Magali Gauthier, Sadie Stinson, Federica Armstrong | |
| Photojournalism | 5th | North Coast Journal | March 7, May 23 & May 30, 2019 | North Coast Journal Staff | |
| News Photo | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Fighting fires | Gina Ferazzi | The time of day, the juxtaposition of the firefighter aligned with the helicopter. This photographer took advantage took full advantage of the situation he was presented with. I don't know if he waited long enough for the moment to occur or if he was just hit with a stroke of luck, whatever the reason was he excited the moment with perfection. |
| News Photo | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Behind the fence | Gary Coronado | A young boy behind the fence is not only telling a story but the light situation that this photographer had to deal with astonishes me. There's a lot of good things going for this photo. The red light hitting his face, the chainlink fence in the foreground this photo is full of small moments. Both the "behind the fence" and "migrant" photographer did a splendid job working within the environment they were given. |
| News Photo | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Protester in Hong Kong | Marcus Yam | The strong emotion in the photo nearly got it the number 1 spot. The storytelling aspect alongside the technical aspect of this photo is very strong. |
| News Photo | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Migrant | Carolyn Cole | The moment exceeds technical ability. The personal moment that this photographer captured is great especially under the quality of light that the photographer had to deal with. |
| News Photo | 5th | The San Diego Union-Tribune | Funeral of Chabad of Poway victim, Lori Gilbert-Kaye | K.C. Alfred | This personal moment doesn't seem invasive to me and that's what spoke to me. Anyone could photograph someone crying. This photographer did a great job not over stepping any boundaries. |
| News Photo | 1st | The Desert Sun | Migrants Give Up on Their American Dream | Omar Ornelas | Timely photo. Wonderful caption the image and text contains painful details. The image is shot under challenging circumstances, which add to the impact and feeling of panicked flight. |
| News Photo | 2nd | The Modesto Bee | Mourning a loss | Andy Alfaro | Fantastic image of a touching moment. Composition is slightly off, but there remains many details tucked away in the image. Tears, slight smile, portrait of the deceased. |
| News Photo | 3rd | The Press Democrat | Kincade Fire | Kent Porter | Terrific image of a firefighter in action during the destructive Kinkade fire. Absent is the human cost beyond property. The hero firefighter remains anonymous. |
| News Photo | 4th | The Press-Enterprise | Sandalwood aftermath | Watchara Phomicinda | Great image showing the aftermath and destruction. great angle |
| News Photo | 5th | Los Angeles Daily News | Not so Easy | David Crane | Great image showing the immense struggle and difficulty of rescuing a panicked horse during the fire. |
| News Photo | 1st | Santa Monica Daily Press | Police prevent suicide | Matthew Hall | The emotion captured in this photo is well-done. It brings awareness to a grim subject. The photographer caught a life-and-death situation that most readers fortunately won't see. |
| News Photo | 2nd | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin | Evacuate the elderly | Will Lester | The photo shows the surreal consequences of evacuation. It makes you feel sorry for the evacuee and it makes you want to know how she managed being away from her home. The photo makes you sense what it's like to be dependent upon others during an emergency. |
| News Photo | 3rd | Marin Independent Journal | Blackout | Alan Dep | The photo shows the determination of the subject to carry on in face of challenges. It also showed how we are so dependent on forces we have no control over. |
| News Photo | 4th | Record Searchlight | SWAT team fires tear gas | Mike Chapman | The photo relays the standoff's tense consequences. The photographer looks like he was right in the middle of the dangerous incident. |
| News Photo | 5th | Lake County Record-Bee | The ‘Glass Fire’ incident | Bob Minenna | The photo is striking. It looks like something out of a horror movie or a war movie. |
| News Photo | 1st | The Acorn | Freeway shooting | Michael Coons | There's so much going on in this photo — from the police drawing on the suspect, to onlookers standing there, to some taking photos. Great capture of a tense moment. |
| News Photo | 2nd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Remembering a friend | Michael Coons | The emotion in this photo is easy to see. It's a terrific photo of a sad moment that most people would never see, unless they were there. |
| News Photo | 3rd | Simi Valley Acorn | Immigration views clash at City Hall | Joseph Garcia | You can feel the tension between the two men facing each other. The photographer was in the right place at the right time. |
| News Photo | 4th | Santa Barbara Independent | Cave Fire | Paul Wellman | What a spectacular sight! Great photo! |
| News Photo | 5th | Thousand Oaks Acorn | A year later, the pain is the same | Michael Coons | Great job at capturing raw, human emotion. |
| News Photo | 1st | Chino Champion | Fifteen acres burned on hillside in Chino Hills | Josh Thompson | |
| News Photo | 2nd | Tracy Press | The heat of the moment | Glenn Moore | |
| News Photo | 3rd | Mountain View Voice | A neighborhood association on wheels | Magali Gauthier | |
| News Photo | 4th | Mountain View Voice | City Council keeps retail cannabis laws largely intact | Magali Gauthier | |
| News Photo | 5th | Chino Champion | Work continues on road damaged by water main break | Josh Thompson | |
| News Photo | 1st | The Trinity Journal | House fire | Wayne Agner | Excellent composition |
| News Photo | 2nd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Government shutdown | Crissy Pascual | Image strongly captures palpable emotion |
| News Photo | 3rd | The Folsom Telegraph | A heroes family grieves | Bill Sullivan | Great composition |
| News Photo | 4th | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | No One Above the Law | Robbi Pengelly | Captures an emotional moment in difficult conditions |
| News Photo | 5th | Glendale News-Press | Scuffles break out as Adam Schiff speaks at Armenian town hall | Raul Roa | Image captures lots of movement among many different subjects |
| Feature Photo | 1st | Los Angeles Times | The end of the season for Paradise High | Wally Skalij | Outstanding visual impact and storytelling of the emotion of the moment. Very smart choice to opt for black-and-white (really enhances that visual impact). Strong technical quality |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Homeless in L.A. | Luis Sinco | Strong visual impact, showing a moment in the life of this homeless person. Great scene-setting too, considering cityscape backdrop and the foreground of the person's life. Strong technical quality and use of color. |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | The San Diego Union-Tribune | USS Monsoor | Howard Lipin | Great framing and scene-setting. Strong technical quality. Really engages the viewer to want to know more about the story of the scene, but still tells part of that story. |
| Feature Photo | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Church | Robert Gauthier | Great technical quality and timing in terms of scene-setting. Engages the view to want to know more about the story. Artistically standout |
| Feature Photo | 5th | The Orange County Register | Sunrise surfing | Mark Rightmire | Fun action photo; great use of scenery/natural elements to frame an engaging photos. Strong technical quality. |
| Feature Photo | 1st | The Desert Sun | Homelessness in the Desert | Jay Calderon | This photo artistically, unsentimentally captures the despair of being homeless in the desert, complete with the dog standing sentry on an abandoned fireplace. There's a lot to look at in this photo - the facial expressions, the surrounding stuff, the T-shirts, the dogs, the (apparently) burned out house, the desolate background landscape. It all comes together to tell a very powerful story. |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | The Bakersfield Californian | Staying cool at the pool | Alex Horvath | I love how the photographer caught that perfect, exuberant moment of being a kid in the summertime. |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | Daily Breeze | Thunder Thursday | Scott Varley | Beautiful colors and sharp silhouettes are in contrast with the exciting (and terrifying) action in the photo. |
| Feature Photo | 4th | The Press Democrat | Kringle's Corner | Beth Schlanker | Pure art. The twinkling lights and their reflections are a creative way to capture the magic of the holidays. |
| Feature Photo | 5th | The Modesto Bee | All is ducky in Oakdale after Ted returned to owner | Andy Alfaro | It's not often one sees a duck on someone's shoulder. The officer's smile is real and infectious. Even the duck seems happy. |
| Feature Photo | 1st | The Tribune | Excited grad | Laura Dickinson | I love the elation of the teen and the smile from the principal. It's just an enjoyable shot that captures well the emotions of graduation day. |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | The Record | AgFest | Clifford Oto | This is a really cute shot. I think it does a great job of showing how close FFA students get with their animals during showing time. |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | Santa Cruz Sentinel | All the raindrops | Dan Coyro | I love how she stands out with the bright red jacket and no umbrella. The sticking out of her tongue just captures her attitude perfectly. |
| Feature Photo | 4th | The Tribune | Curious seal | David Middlecamp | What a cute capture. The seal's expression is just so wonderful as it watches those watching them. |
| Feature Photo | 5th | Times-Herald | Reaching for the stars | Chris Riley | I love how this almost feels like he's touching the actual moon. It's a great way to depict the art piece and a play on oversize moon photos. |
| Feature Photo | 1st | The Acorn | Dogs walking human | Joseph A. Garcia | The composition and subject matter of this photo is well thought out, but spur of the moment as well. The photographer provided a cutline, yet it wasn't necessary to tell the story. |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | The Beach Reporter | Feelin' the music | Axel Koester | The feeling of fun and energy is captured perfectly in this photo. Music is almost audible thanks to the movement and tilted cropping. |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | Simi Valley Acorn | Pals | Michael Coons | This is truly a heartfelt photo, showing a strong bond between man and dog. Nicely done. |
| Feature Photo | 4th | Santa Barbara Independent | Blown Fuel Steamliner Car | Paul Wellman | Though there wasn't a cutline, this photo tells a grand story and produces a lot of curiosity in the viewer. The composition and colors draw in the eye. |
| Feature Photo | 5th | Camarillo Acorn | Park and ride | Joseph Garcia | The photographer was able to capture a moment of play and imagination with a simple shot. |
| Feature Photo | 1st | Signal Tribune | ‘They fight us with a bullet, we fight back with love and compassion.’ | Lissette Mendoza | There were other features that the technical quality and storytelling stood out more than this photo but the visual impact gave it the number 1 spot in my book. The title of this photo "They fight us with a bullet, we fight back with love and compassion." also helped it give it a boost in regards to the storytelling aspect of the photograph. Overall this photo is a 7 out of 10 in my book but a 10/10 in regards to the impact it is creating. |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | The Almanac | A veteran offers his hand | Magali Gauthier | A tender/honest moment captured in this lovely feature. The photo looks soft to me, I don't know if its because of the quality of the JPEG or the actual setting of the photographer. |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | Mountain View Voice | Let a laptop be your umbrella | Magali Gauthier | This was the feature that stood out the most to me but besides the great storytelling component of the story there's not much this photo offers. |
| Feature Photo | 4th | Mountain View Voice | Let's hang out: Co-op preschool celebrates 50 years in Mountain View | Magali Gauthier | The juxtaposition in this photograph is great. |
| Feature Photo | 5th | Mountain View Voice | Rise of the ramen bots | Magali Gauthier | Such a timeless moment that any person viewing this photo could relate to. Such joy and excitement being capture. The photographer did a great job capturing this fun moment. |
| Feature Photo | 1st | The Folsom Telegraph | Thanking her hero | Bill Sullivan | Great emotions and moment. This image had the most emotion and visual impact out of all the entries. |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Sonoma Valley High Goes Wild | Robbi Pengelly | Great moment, though this image could have benefitted from a tighter crop. |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Fantastic Beasts! | Robbi Pengelly | Visually impactful image. This made me do a double take. The art is great, but the live subject is rather static. |
| Feature Photo | 4th | The Folsom Telegraph | Trick, Treat or Royal Flush | Bill Sullivan | Nice moment with a good subject. |
| Feature Photo | 5th | Sacramento Business Journal | Country Club Luchador Express | Dennis McCoy | I like the concept behind this photo. The visual impact is pretty good. |
| Feature Photo | 1st | The Weekly Calistogan | Calistoga Lighted Tractor Parade | Tim Carl | |
| Feature Photo | 2nd | The Trinity Journal | Merry-go-round fun | Wayne Agner | |
| Feature Photo | 3rd | St. Helena Star | Schramsberg Vineyards crews saber the wines | Tim Carl | |
| Feature Photo | 4th | The Trinity Journal | Bewitching brigade | Wayne Agner | |
| Feature Photo | 5th | Claremont Courier | Heart attack survivor | Steven Felschundneff | |
| Artistic Photo | 1st | Marin Independent Journal | Flower inspection | Alan Dep | With the right lens, anyone can get a tight shot. But to compose a close up so fluently—flowing petals, activity, the artistry of nature. It's captivating. |
| Artistic Photo | 2nd | The Tribune | Pismo dog walker | David Middlecamp | |
| Artistic Photo | 3rd | Visalia Times-Delta | 2019 high school prom | Ron Holman | |
| Artistic Photo | 4th | Marin Independent Journal | Wing stretching | Alan Dep | |
| Artistic Photo | 5th | Santa Maria Times | Cruzin' for Life | Len Wood | |
| Artistic Photo | 1st | The Press Democrat | Tree and Meteor | Kent Porter | |
| Artistic Photo | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Plane | Luis Sinco | |
| Artistic Photo | 3rd | The Orange County Register | Strolling by the Super Snow Moon | Mark Rightmire | |
| Artistic Photo | 4th | The Sacramento Bee | Nutcracker Ballet | Daniel Kim | |
| Artistic Photo | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Rocker | Allen J. Schaben | |
| Artistic Photo | 1st | Simi Valley Acorn | High flying act | Michael Coons | |
| Artistic Photo | 2nd | Simi Valley Acorn | Winging It | Joseph Garcia | |
| Artistic Photo | 3rd | The Acorn | Pool reflection | Joseph A. Garcia | |
| Artistic Photo | 4th | Brentwood Press | Deck the Park | Tony Kukulich | |
| Artistic Photo | 5th | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Charred landscape | Joseph Garcia | |
| Artistic Photo | 1st | The Sonoma Index-Tribune | Seeds of Light Sown | Robbi Pengelly | Nice lighting on this photo and good composition. Meaningful portrait of a grieving mother. |
| Artistic Photo | 2nd | Tracy Press | Fire and water | Glenn Moore | Good action! Love the lighting. Gives it a painterly quality. |
| Artistic Photo | 3rd | Mount Shasta Herald | Rising above it all | Danielle Jester | Great "how did you get that shot?" photo. Beautiful lighting. |
| Artistic Photo | 4th | Elk Grove Citizen | A Tradition in Vivid Colors | Steve Crowley | Fun and colorful photos. The face portraits were beautiful. Would've scored it better, but the photo had some distracting artifacts. |
| Artistic Photo | 5th | The Desert Review | Folklorico Dancer | Joselito Villero | Fun and colorful. Good composition and nice action. |
| Photo Illustration | 1st | The Tribune | Murder petitions | David Middlecamp | Nice composition, like the use of the stark lighting, dramatic looking photo that conveyed the story well. |
| Photo Illustration | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | 'Terror' Then and Now | Shenho Hshieh | Nice us of photo effects to make the image unique |
| Photo Illustration | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | 2019 NBA Finals | Tam Duong, Danielle Mollette-Parks, Elizabeth Burr, Robert Mickelson | Good selection of photos, nice editing to draw the reader in. |
| Photo Illustration | 4th | The Press Democrat | Cape Buffalo | John Burgess | very dramatic lighting, well composed. |
| Photo Illustration | 1st | Comstock's Magazine | We Hate Meeting | Kelly Barr, Mike Graff | This is so fun — and there’s levels of fun, from the facial expressions to the little charts on the white board. The feel that the illustrators caught an office “moment” is pretty amazing. Great use of color. The idea of using legos may have been done before but this team definitely pulled off an excellent execution. |
| Photo Illustration | 2nd | Sacramento Business Journal | A hearty helping of the region's top young leaders | Stephanie Hays | This is an incredibly ambitious campaign that brings a smile to a designer’s face. The amount of effort to create a box for all 40 is pretty staggering. The concept is pretty original and seems to fit with the nutritional mindset that people under 40 seem to have. |
| Photo Illustration | 3rd | Comstock's Magazine | Power Shift | Terence Duffy, Kelly Barr | I love the fold out concept and the thought that it gives the reader a “surprise” when they open it up. What a feat to capture in one frame so many with a powerful expression. The tone of the photo has a very nice quality, with the coordination of color. |
| Photo Illustration | 4th | Palo Alto Weekly | Whose rules? | Veronica Weber, Jocelyn Dong | You have to admire the amount of technical skill in this setup — from the game board pieces to the hand involvement and depth of field photography. |
| Photo Illustration | 5th | The Trinity Journal | 'Sound of Music' auditions coming | Bridget Carson | This has a bit of an old-timey advertising feel to it that gives you a nostalgic response. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Protests in Hong Kong | Marcus Yam | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Mexico's homicide crisis | Gary Coronado | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | One Day, One City, No Relief: San Francisco Chronicle | Photo Staff San Francisco Chronicle | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Immigration | Gary Coronado | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Paradise High football season after the devastating Camp fire | Wally Skalij | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 1st | The Press Democrat | Last Stand at Windsor: The Kincade Fire | Press Democrat Staff | Great story telling from the fight against the flames to the toll on the community. Got in close and told a dramatic story. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 2nd | The Desert Sun | Keeping traditions alive in a new land | Omar Ornelas | Beautifully photographed story capturing a slice of the community's traditions. Well done. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 3rd | Santa Cruz Sentinel | Homeless in Santa Cruz | Dan Coyro | Difficult subject to photograph, nice work getting in close for intimate moments. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 4th | The Bakersfield Californian | Portraits of the homeless | Alex Horvath | Nice collection of portraits and technically well done. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 5th | The Bakersfield Californian | A war hero comes home, 76 years after he was missing in action | Alex Horvath | Nice work capturing a variety of moments and b=views of his return, wish there would have been more. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 1st | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Just one of the team | Michael Coons | A truly inspiring story with excellent photos that capture Corey's personality and tell the story perfectly. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 2nd | Santa Barbara Independent | The Conception | Paul Wellman | Beautiful photos that capture the community's heartbreak. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 3rd | Palo Alto Weekly | Living on four wheels | Veronica Weber | A great slice of life to show how living out of an RV or car has become a reality for many. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 4th | Camarillo Acorn | Grapple with purpose | Michael Coons, Eliav Appelbaum | Great photos of cute kids wrestling in honor of a fallen wrestler that show the competitive spirit and the camaraderie of sport. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 5th | Palo Alto Weekly | Rethinking waste | Veronica Weber | A fascinating, in-depth look at where the waste goes and how the process is evolving. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 1st | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Supporting transgender children | Crissy Pascual | The photos provide a range of emotion, eloquently showing the world of one child, and they do so in such a creative manner each could stand alone. |
| Photo Story/Essay | 2nd | The Folsom Telegraph | Farewell to Officer Ishmael | Bill Sullivan | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 3rd | The Windsor Times | Windsor comes home, gives thanks | Heather Bailey | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 4th | The Ark | Going to the dogs | Elliot Karlan | |
| Photo Story/Essay | 5th | The Trinity Journal | Faces of Halloween 2019 | Wayne Agner | |
| Sports Action Photo | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Parallel bars | Wally Skalij | The focus on the face makes this image stand out over others. |
| Sports Action Photo | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Pitcher | Wally Skalij | Nice moment, I just wish there was something more going on with the pitcher. |
| Sports Action Photo | 3rd | The Sacramento Bee | Kings dunk | Paul Kitagaki Jr. | Great face, but the ball seems a little far, almost out of frame. |
| Sports Action Photo | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Airborne | Wally Skalij | |
| Sports Action Photo | 1st | The Press-Enterprise | Rose Bowl | Terry Pierson | Photo has everything wrapped up in a awesome composition, shot well with great drama. |
| Sports Action Photo | 2nd | The Press Democrat | High Flying TD | Christopher Chung | Great storytelling from the hip. Image suffers slightly from composition. Cropping might improve overall impact. |
| Sports Action Photo | 3rd | The Fresno Bee | Clovis rodeo | Craig Kohlruss | Wonderful image, shot well. Great drama on the rider and bronc. Needs more storytelling with text/captioning. Good ride? Poor ride? Saddle bronc or is it bareback? |
| Sports Action Photo | 4th | The Fresno Bee | High school track | Craig Kohlruss | Great drama and moment! |
| Sports Action Photo | 5th | Daily Pilot | Laguna Beach girls’ water polo bounces back for third at Santa Barbara TOC | Raul Roa | Solid package of images with good lead of defender in overtime win. |
| Sports Action Photo | 1st | The Record | Flores fight | Clifford Oto | This photo tells the story. Great boxing photo and use of the wide angle lens was used perfectly. |
| Sports Action Photo | 2nd | Marin Independent Journal | What's the call? | Alan Dep | The photo was taken at the right moment with the two baseball players staring at the umpire, who is about to make his call. Sets up a lot of anticipation on what the call would be. Great photo! |
| Sports Action Photo | 3rd | Daily Press | Just Out of Reach | James Quigg | Great soccer moment. Any picture, such as this, showing soccer goalies diving for a ball makes for a great photo. |
| Sports Action Photo | 4th | Visalia Times-Delta | Gridiron sideline dance | Ron Holman | The expressions on both the receiver and the defender make this a great football action shot. Nice timing to capture a great moment. |
| Sports Action Photo | 5th | The Reporter | Battling for Position | Joel Rosenbaum | It can be sometimes difficult to get a good soccer action photo that doesn't show a ball, but this one is fantastic. The poke in the eye and the grabbing of the hand works in the picture. Nice job! |
| Sports Action Photo | 1st | Thousand Oaks Acorn | No fear | Michael Coons | |
| Sports Action Photo | 2nd | The Beach Reporter | Rowing in the Dory race | Axel Koester | |
| Sports Action Photo | 3rd | The Acorn | Basketball bash | Michael Coons | |
| Sports Action Photo | 4th | Santa Barbara Independent | UCSB Tennis | Paul Wellman | |
| Sports Action Photo | 5th | Santa Barbara Independent | SMHS Track Meet | Paul Wellman | |
| Sports Action Photo | 1st | Tracy Press | What do you mean, I'm out? | Glenn Moore | |
| Sports Action Photo | 2nd | Chino Champion | Huskies, Knights advance to semis | Josh Thompson | |
| Sports Action Photo | 3rd | Los Altos Town Crier | Boys toppled by Paly 56-46 | Megan Winslow | |
| Sports Action Photo | 4th | Moorpark Acorn | Teen catches major air | Joseph Garcia | |
| Sports Action Photo | 5th | The Davis Enterprise | Leaping receiver | Owen Yancher | |
| Sports Action Photo | 1st | St. Helena Star | NCS playoff runs come to an end | Dave Mosher | Captured all the emotion of the moment. Great framing. I know everything I need to know about this story from the photo. |
| Sports Action Photo | 2nd | The Weekly Calistogan | Calistoga girls basketball win tournament | Dave Mosher | Good framing to get the whole team in there. Captures all the emotion. Tells the full story. |
| Sports Action Photo | 3rd | Mount Shasta Herald | Almost home | Skye Kinkade | Fantastic timing and catch of the action. Only knocked down for the tagged runner being out of focus. |
| Sports Action Photo | 4th | The Mountain Enterprise | The throw to first | Dave Waters | Love all the technical aspects of the photo. Layers of depth. Strong focus. |
| Sports Action Photo | 5th | St. Helena Star | Saints break records, rout Trojans 54-39 | Dave Mosher | Strong technical ability in this one. Love the look back. |
| Sports Feature Photo | 1st | Los Angeles Times | Balance beam | Wally Skalij | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 2nd | The Sacramento Bee | Killdeer closes football field | Renée C. Byer | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | Horse and jockey | Irfan Khan | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 4th | The Sacramento Bee | Marathon welfare check | Daniel Kim | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Los Angeles Rams | Wally Skalij | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 1st | The Record | Slowball | Clifford Oto | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 2nd | The Press Democrat | Over The Fence | Kent Porter | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 3rd | The Tribune | Touchdown celebration | David Middlecamp | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 4th | The Bakersfield Californian | Buzzer-beater: Aggies spoil 'Runners second-half comeback with final-second shot | Alex Horvath | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 5th | Visalia Times-Delta | Teeing up on the golf course | Ron Holman | |
| Sports Feature Photo | 1st | Elk Grove Citizen | Brews and Wiener Dogs | Steve Crowley | It's certainly not a traditional sports photo, which I understand is the point. It's such a fun shot -- love how the dog owner in back is trying to get her racer going, while another dog just chills in its crate. And the dog in the foreground looks so happy! |
| Sports Feature Photo | 2nd | Camarillo Acorn | Golden goose | Richard Gillard | My favorite thing about this photo is it leaves me dying to know what the next moment brought. |
| Sports Feature Photo | 3rd | Glendale News-Press | Flintridge Prep girls’ water polo falls to Katella in CIF championship | Raul Roa | Ouch. The finger to the eye should make anyone viewing this photo wince a bit. But I also love how the ball was captured in such a way that it's almost date-stamping the photo. |
| Sports Feature Photo | 4th | Poway News Chieftain | The Thrill of Victory | Monte Umsted | The jubilation captured is terrific. But the photographer catching the kid's hair at full height makes this shot! |
| Sports Feature Photo | 5th | Tracy Press | Inspiration | Glenn Moore | Shot works so well even if you don't know the story. At first glance it looks like a simple take-a-knee, say-a-prayer moment, but Elias' name and number tell you there's more to it. |
| Special Section | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | One Day, One City, No Relief | San Francisco Chronicle Design Staff | |
| Special Section | 2nd | Chico Enterprise-Record | Camp Fire images | Enterprise-Record Staff | |
| Special Section | 3rd | Napa Valley Register | They Served With Honor | Sean Scully | |
| Special Section | 4th | The Press Democrat | 2018 Year in Pictures | Press Democrat Staff | |
| Special Section | 5th | Antelope Valley Press | Future Leaders | Pamela Krogstie | |
| Special Section | 1st | Santa Barbara Independent | Disaster Prep Guide | Tyler Hayden, Keith Hamm, Alex Drake | Impactful and excellent use of design for vital and important needed reader safety information. |
| Special Section | 2nd | Chico News & Review | Camp Fire One-Year Anniversary Issue | Melissa Daugherty, Ashiah Scharaga, Meredith J. Cooper, Tina Flynn, Andre Byik, Jason Cassidy | Great work on the whole issue being devoted to the Camp Fire remembrance and issues being faced by the community moving forward. Nice community coverage at all levels. |
| Special Section | 3rd | Palo Alto Weekly | Palo Alto Weekly 40th Anniversary edition | Palo Alto Weekly Staff | Well informed and localized news writing for a 40 year look back on this community. Timeline was easy to digest and read. |
| Special Section | 4th | Monterey County Weekly | Eat+Drink Guide | Dave Faries, Monterey County Weekly Staff | Good photography and creative category titles and writing. |
| Special Section | 5th | Sacramento News & Review | Best of Sacramento | Maria Ratinova, Sacramento News & Review Staff | Creative category listings, current and colorful design use. |
| Special Section | 1st | San Francisco Business Times | Business of Pride | Jim Gardner, Todd Johnson | |
| Special Section | 2nd | North Coast Journal | The Media Literacy Issue | North Coast Journal Staff | |
| Special Section | 3rd | The Malibu Times | Malibu Remembers | Emily Sawicki, Shivani Patel, Nira Lichten | |
| Special Section | 4th | Tehachapi News | Our history: A collection of historic photos, stories and personal memories of how Tehachapi became the community it is today | Tehachapi News Staff | |
| Special Section | 5th | Valley Voice | Where To Have Your Baby | Catherine Doe | |
| Special Section | 1st | Cloverdale Reveille | Teens and the Vape Debate | Sonoma West Publishers | This section was extremely interesting and informative, focusing on health and social ramifications of vaping, as well as explaining the science and its intricacies. |
| Special Section | 2nd | The Windsor Times | Sonoma Clean Power | Mary Fricker, Sonoma West Publishers | This section was extremely enlightening, focusing on environmental and ramifications, while providing historical background as well as explaining the complicated science and political processes involved. |
| Special Section | 3rd | Sonoma West Times & News | Deep Trouble | Sonoma West Publishers Staff | This section was informative and fascinating, clearly bringing to the forefront, in great detail, environmental concerns that don't receive due coverage. |
| Special Section | 4th | The Healdsburg Tribune | Harvest 2019 | Sonoma West Publishers Staff | This was a fun, fascinating look at the region/community's agriculture successes. |
| Special Section | 5th | La Canada Flintridge Outlook | A Salute To La Canada Flintridge Educational Foundation | Aisa Reyes, Karin Esterhammer, Mark Geers | This section revealed a previously unknown (to me), clever, creative, community solution to funding in the wake of 1978's Prop. 13. The articles describing the organization's history were most fascinating. |
| Special Section Cover | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Culture Desk, Food + Home & The Fisherman's Secret | Design Staff San Francisco Chronicle | These are excellent examples of what a section cover should do – catch the reader’s eye and communicate plainly what the content is about. The bold typography, bright colors and clever illustration of “Don’t Panic!” captures the mood and tone of the subject matter. So too do the muted earth tones, fading letters, and spare, striking photography of “The Fisherman’s Secret.” An easy pick for first place. |
| Special Section Cover | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Feb. 2, Nov. 10 & Nov. 24, 2019 | Los Angeles Times Staff | It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that Hollywood’s hometown paper produced theatrical entries. Both “Detective Trapp” and “American Fallout” have a cinematic quality – they could almost double as movie posters. “The Sneakers Issue” keeps text to a minimum while allowing a lively illustration to speak for itself. |
| Special Section Cover | 3rd | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Chill; Play Ball; Bookish | Jackie Burrell, Jennifer Schaefer, Chris Gotsill, Mark Conley | Eye-candy illustrations and matching typography. Each element works in harmony with the others for a result that’s just fun to look at. |
| Special Section Cover | 4th | The Desert Sun | ‘Detention or death’; They Called It Home; ‘Chilapa is a war zone’ | Desert Sun Staff | Good use of large-scale photos. “They Called It Home” stands out for the way it merges images with text. |
| Special Section Cover | 5th | The San Diego Union-Tribune | 2019 NFL Preview | Michael Domine | |
| Special Section Cover | 1st | Sacramento Business Journal | Top young leaders; Food and Agriculture; CFO of the Year | Stephanie Hays | Cover images were styled with care and forethought, and it shows. Very creative, good attention to detail. |
| Special Section Cover | 2nd | Comstock's Magazine | Folsom: A Natural Draw; Woodland: Rooted in Innovation; 19th Annual Capital Region Office Guide | Marissa Lewis, Shoka, Thea Kaiser | Over all strong designs, nice balance of white space, simplistic but in the right way. |
| Special Section Cover | 3rd | The Healdsburg Tribune | Vaping; Sonoma Clean Power; Deep Trouble | Robby McClellan, Sonoma West Publishers Staff | Inspired designs, creative use of headlines as a graphic element. Large blocks of text holding the pages back, otherwise would have placed higher. |
| Special Section Cover | 4th | Monterey County Weekly | Eat+Drink Guide; Monterey Bay Visitors Guide; U.S. Open Guide | Karen Loutzenheiser | Beautiful photography, good text placement, but predictable design. |
| Special Section Cover | 5th | The Ark | Generosity (Summer 2019), Generosity (Winter 2019) & Home (Fall 2019) | Kevin Hessel | Good use of photography, good balance of copy, but predictable design. |
| Special Publication | 1st | The Orange County Register | Coast Magazine | Samantha Dunn, Jenn Tanaka, Karen Kelso | |
| Special Publication | 2nd | Napa Valley Register | Inside Napa Valley magazine, spring/summer 2019 | Sean Scully, Norma Kostecka | |
| Special Publication | 3rd | San Francisco Chronicle | Tom Stienstra's Outdoors | Deb Wandell, Tom Stienstra, Elizabeth Burr, Russell Yip | |
| Special Publication | 4th | Napa Valley Register | Inside Napa Valley magazine, winter/spring 2019 | Sean Scully, Norma Kostecka | |
| Special Publication | 5th | Antelope Valley Press | Welcome | Valley Press Staff | |
| Special Publication | 1st | North Coast Journal | Humboldt Insider | North Coast Journal Staff | |
| Special Publication | 2nd | San Clemente Times | SC Magazine 2019 | Jasmine Smith, Andrea Papagianis, Randall Youngman, Fred Swegles | |
| Special Publication | 3rd | North Coast Journal | Wedding Guide | North Coast Journal Staff | |
| Special Publication | 4th | The Folsom Telegraph | The Folsom Lake Entertainer | Bill Sullivan, Rachel Zirin, Shaden Solanji, Debbrah Campbell, Tarin Delavoye | |
| Special Publication | 5th | The Desert Review | Desert Kids News | Noel Bravo, Kayla Kirby, Javier Guerrero, Jalen Fong | |
| Sports Section | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | June 13 & 14, 2019 | San Francisco Chronicle Sporting Green Staff | This is how you do it. Comprehensive coverage of the local team in its big moment, with plenty of staff resourced devoted to that coverage, and then presented well with good photos displayed prominently. Other local sports get their due attention as well, and when wire is used its coverage of those sports that the local readers would be in is presented well. |
| Sports Section | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | April 14 & 15, 2019 | Los Angeles Times Staff | Good use of photos. Good photos and run them big. Variety of content and lots of different types of sports coverage, from in depth stories to game coverage, features and column, plus scoreboards and schedules. |
| Sports Section | 3rd | The Desert Sun | Jan. 18 & 19, 2019 | Desert Sun Staff | It's a good-looking section. The coverage of the local golf tournament stands out, and so it's good to see staff resources devoted to that with as many pages as you have. The main sports section looks good, but appears to be heavy on the wire and USA Today content, though that's to be expected as you devote local reporting resources to the golf tournament. |
| Sports Section | 4th | Chico Enterprise-Record | Feb. 16 & 17, 2019 | Enterprise-Record Staff | It's good to see the local prep coverage dominate the cover. Would have liked to see the girls wrestling section champions make the cover too. It would also be better to group the jumps from the local coverage together on the inside pages instead of mixing it with the wire stories. |
| Sports Section | 5th | Napa Valley Register | Aug. 25 & 26, 2019 | Andy Wilcox, Gus Morris, Marty James | Good local coverage and good photography complemented by attractive use of wire content. |
| Sports Section | 1st | Ledger Dispatch | Nov. 1 & 8, 2019 | Jack Mitchell, Jeremy Malamed, Rachel Norris, Sarah Tullus | As a total package, this is an exceptional sports section. Great coverage all around, highlighted by great design that lets the stories and photos shine without additional, unnecessary, razzle-dazzle. The attention given to the cover story shows the significance of the team’s accomplishment and the layout does a wonderful job of capturing its significance without taking away from the other happenings of the day. |
| Sports Section | 2nd | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Nov. 7 & 14, 2019 | John Jackson, Frank Marqua | |
| Sports Section | 3rd | The Davis Enterprise | Jan. 4 & 6, 2019 | Davis Enterprise Sports Staff | |
| Sports Section | 4th | The Desert Review | Sept. 24 & Oct. 1, 2019 | Javier Guerrero, Kalin Turner, Ernest Ramos, Jalen Fong | |
| Special Sports Section | 1st | Imperial Valley Press | 2019 High School Football Preview | Aaron Bodus, Tania Pamanes, Victor Quinonez, Tom Bodus | |
| Special Sports Section | 2nd | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | NFL Kickoff | Mercury News Sports Staff, Mark Conley | |
| Special Sports Section | 3rd | Santa Maria Times | Central Coast Football 2019 | Joe Bailey, Elliott Stern, Kenny Cress, Len Wood | |
| Special Sports Section | 4th | Los Angeles Times | NFL Preview | Los Angeles Times Staff | |
| Special Sports Section | 5th | The Desert Sun | 2019 Desert Classic Golf Tournament | Larry Bohannan, Matt Solinsky | |
| Special Sports Section | 1st | The Folsom Telegraph | 2019 Friday Night Lights | Bill Sullivan, Matt Long, Debbrah Campbell, Tarin Delavoye | Good layout, design, use of graphics. The writing was clear, easy to follow, even if you know nothing about the teams. |
| Special Sports Section | 2nd | Thousand Oaks Acorn | Pigskin Preview 2019 | Thousand Oaks Acorn Staff | Great use of graphics, clean design. The consistent layout for each school made the section easy to follow, Great writing, as well. |
| Special Sports Section | 3rd | Turlock Journal | The Blitz Season 7: The Chibi Edition | Harold George, Eduardo Ruiz | Whomever designed this tab thought outside the box. The design was clean and the caricatures added an interesting twist. |
| Special Sports Section | 4th | Ledger Dispatch | Argonaut Mustangs Varsity Girls Basketball Keepsake Edition | Jack Mitchell, Jeremy Malamed, Aaron Johnson, Craig Baracco | |
| Special Sports Section | 5th | Dana Point Times | 2019 Dolphin Football Preview | Zach Cavanagh, Jasmine Smith | |
| Editorial Cartoon | 1st | Los Angeles Times | The new Bill of Rights: Donald Trump gives originalism an update | Steve Brodner | The quality of the art is worthy of a gallery. Love that the images appear ripped from the time of the framers. And the online animation is really something. If I were to quibble, I would say the layout is hard to follow and distracting. I would have done something else with those wonderful drawings. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 2nd | Marin Independent Journal | West Marin coastal wall denied | George Russell | I love this one. It's simple, understandable to any coastal Californian and makes a statement that can't be missed. So much with simple black and white. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 3rd | The San Diego Union-Tribune | California property values | Steve Breen | There is something about the color and humanity in the drawing that makes this unique to me. I'd love to see this artist in my daily paper. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 4th | Marin Independent Journal | PG&E public safety power shutoff hits Marin | George Russell | |
| Editorial Cartoon | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Turkey Day at Nancy's house: Where politics has to be on the table | Steve Brodner | I almost love this. Great idea, riffing on the famous Rockwell, but honestly, I found the caricatures a little overdone. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 1st | Petaluma Argus-Courier | Petaluma Library upgrades | Pete McDonnell | Wonderful detail on artwork, from the titles on the stack, "The Wind is Gone!" to the guy on the computer on the far right. You don't have to live in Petaluma to instantly get what's going on here and relate to similar SNAFUs in other places. Minor nit: don't think you need the little lines around librarian's head; it's effective enough without them. Overall, WOW! |
| Editorial Cartoon | 2nd | Santa Maria Sun | Can of legal cannabis worms | Ross Mayfield | Nice use of color; great detail on the worms. Instantly conveys the myriad issues every jurisdiction in California is dealing with. A little creepy but very effective. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 3rd | Palos Verdes Peninsula News | Day of the Dead | Gary Johnson | More great detail from a very talented artist. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 4th | Half Moon Bay Review | Road Hogs | Marc Hershon | Love the subtle coloring and the expressions on the faces. Manages to comment on climate crisis and skewer bureaucracy at the same time.... Really torn cause I wanted to put this in top 3. |
| Editorial Cartoon | 5th | Santa Maria Sun | The power is out, but California's still on fire | Ross Mayfield | Very poignant... had a visceral reaction to this, but I think it would have benefited from a caption; don't know if readers would immediately get the connection between cutting power and fires still going on. |
| Illustration | 1st | Los Angeles Times | End 'Game' | Cameron Cottrill | |
| Illustration | 2nd | Los Angeles Times | Summer movie sneaks | Jonathan Bartlett | |
| Illustration | 3rd | Los Angeles Times | It's gotta be the shoes | Alessandro Pautasso | |
| Illustration | 4th | Los Angeles Times | Fall arts preview | Pierluigi Longo | |
| Illustration | 5th | Los Angeles Times | Oversubscribed | Robert Neubecker | |
| Illustration | 1st | Sacramento Business Journal | Best of the Bar | Stephanie Hays | The amount of detail illustrated in this piece is staggering. You can find little scenes throughout that tell their own little story. I love the Escher approach and it feels appropriate that it’s not overpowering the concept — you almost don’t see it until you start to closely look at the details. Just wonderful. |
| Illustration | 2nd | North Coast Journal | We're Coming Home | Jacqueline Langeland | A splendid illustration that seems to tell a story on its own. It has a wonderful whimsical style with surprising textures and layers. The colors give off a feel of a a season that the locals would know all too well. |
| Illustration | 3rd | Comstock's Magazine | How Safe Is Your Pension? | Andrew J. Nilsen, Carly Carnejo | The color palette works really well and the “payoff” you get when you open the cover is pretty cool. Nice illustration style fits the subject with it’s texture and tone. |
| Illustration | 4th | Sacramento News & Review | Power play | Maria Ratinova | This is a cool illustration with a noir feel that seems to fit the subject of the story nicely. The few colors used are played deftly against the dark backdrop. |
| Illustration | 5th | Santa Barbara Independent | Michael B Jordan as Black Panther | Ben Ciccati | A graphic approach to a portrait. The unfinished portion kind of alludes to the actor’s young (and not close to being finished) career. |
| Informational Graphic | 1st | San Francisco Chronicle | Why California Burns: San Francisco Chronicle | John Blanchard, Kurtis Alexander, Danielle Mollette-Parks, Mark Lundgren | |
| Informational Graphic | 2nd | Chico Enterprise-Record | Rebuilding an icon | Esmeralda Ramirez | |
| Informational Graphic | 3rd | The Orange County Register | Horse deaths | Jeff Goertzen | |
| Informational Graphic | 4th | Los Angeles Times | The evolution of a violent path | Lorena Iñiguez Elebee, Paige St. John | |
| Informational Graphic | 5th | The Mercury News/East Bay Times | Dive Boat Tragedy | Pai | |
| Informational Graphic | 1st | North Coast Journal | Recycling | Jonathan Webster | Jonathan Webster designed a lot of information to be clear, easy to follow and understand. The creative way he illustrates the information has a fun, game-like aesthetic. |
| Informational Graphic | 2nd | Sacramento Business Journal | The Business of Death | Stephanie Hays | All of these numbers were elegantly designed to give the reader a very comprehensive view of the industry. The slight touch of colors don’t overwhelm but help inform and the typography is beautiful in its simplicity. |
| Informational Graphic | 3rd | North Coast Journal | Priest Abuse | Jonathan Webster | This piece has a massive amount of information that’s a little intimidating to get into — but when you dive in and start to understand what it’s showing you, it’s staggering and upsetting, which ultimately indicates the effectiveness of this graphic. The colors are used very precisely, helping you clearly see the most important items. |
| Informational Graphic | 4th | Palo Alto Weekly | Anatomy of a fraud | Linda Taaffe, Kristin Brown | “Anatomy of a Fraud” was a visual way to pull out and consolidate key points. |
