Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Los Angeles Times Entry Title: Kobe Bryant, daughter among 9 dead in helicopter crash in Calabasas Entry Credit: L.A. Times Staff Judge Comment: You really can't beat what a publication with the resources and talented staff of the LA Times can do on a breaking story like this. Great up-to-the-minute updates. Great follow up. Great reporting on what went wrong. Pretty much the definition of how a breaking story should be covered today.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: San Francisco Chronicle Entry Title: California's Wildfire Siege Entry Credit: San Francisco Chronicle Staff Judge Comment: Good public information, and the reporting by Sarah Ravani and Megan Cassidy was particularly good.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Press Democrat Entry Title: Live updates covering the first 24 hours of the Glass and Shady fires in Sonoma and Napa Counties September 27 and 28 Entry Credit: Bill Swindell, Tyler Silvy, Martin Espinoza, Julie Johnson, Kent Porter Judge Comment: What people want to know in an emergency like this is where the fire is, where to go for safety, and what's happening. Great work providing that info.
Place Name: Fourth Place Contestant Name: The Sacramento Bee Entry Title: 71 infected with coronavirus at Sacramento church. Congregation tells county ‘leave us alone’ Entry Credit: Tony Bizjak, Sam Sam, Michael McGough, Dale Kasler Judge Comment: This is a fascinating story on a topic that often gets only limited coverage -- how churches were dealing with the early days of COVID. Nice work.
Place Name: Fifth Place Contestant Name: The Mercury News/East Bay Times Entry Title: BLM protests come to San Jose Entry Credit: Bay Area News Group Judge Comment: Pretty classic coverage of demonstrations and the police response. But I didn't see much context -- violence against Black people has been so prevalent in our society that a little property damage in protest might not be proportional.
