2020 California Journalism Awards - Print Division
General Excellence ( Dailies: 15,001 - 50,000)Back
Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: The Bakersfield Californian Entry Title: The Bakersfield Californian 2020 Entry Credit: The Bakersfield Californian Judge Comment: You can't go wrong with coverage of a presidential campaign visit. The writing helped tell the story, but the photography really sang. This paper is well rounded with a plenty of local coverage, a strong editorial voice and it definitely offers a general sense of place for the reader.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The Press Democrat Entry Title: The Press Democrat, Sept. 19-20, 2020 Entry Credit: Press Democrat staff Judge Comment: This is a newspaper's newspaper. Good mix of local news interspersed with headlines from around the nation and world. Outstanding photography, lots of ads and a good mix of voices on the opinion page.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Fresno Bee Entry Title: The Fresno Bee -- General Excellence entry Entry Credit: staff Judge Comment: The Bee kept readers well informed about the fires that were ravaging Central California at the time, offering readers a sense of place as well as detailed information for readers who were more intimately affected by the blazes. Good photography, good writing. Design is a little cookie-cutter.
Place Name: Fourth Place Contestant Name: The Desert Sun Entry Title: Desert Sun-General Excellence Entry Credit: Julie Makinen, Kate Franco, Matt Solinsky, Kristin Scharkey Judge Comment: I loved reading through this newspaper -- the writing and photography are especially strong -- but I didn't get the sense of place I was looking for and the design is a little too cookie-cutter. Also, I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of advertising, but congrats to the company for putting out a newspaper that is so clearly in demand by advertisers.
Place Name: Fifth Place Contestant Name: Antelope Valley Press Entry Title: September 9 and September 10, 2020 Entry Credit: Valley Press Staff Judge Comment: This is a decent local newspaper but the writing is a little pedestrian and the general layout is overpowered by design elements.
