L.A. Times Earns Two Excellence in Journalism Awards from the NLGJA for Coverage of the LGBTQ Community

The Los Angeles Times has won two Excellence in Journalism Awards from the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists. The awards were established in 1993 to foster and recognize excellence in journalism on issues related to the LGBTQ community.

Staff Writer Andrea Castillo earned an Excellence in Business Coverage Award and Staff Writer David Wharton received the Excellence in Sports Writing Award.

Castillo’s piece, A lifeline for LGBTQ Latinos on the brink of closure, tells the story of the New Jalisco Bar, a downtown L.A. bar that was struggling to stay in business during the pandemic.

The idea for the story came when Castillo saw an online fundraiser for the shuttered hotspot, which is popular among LGBTQ Latinos. “I had read a few stories about LGBTQ bars closing during the pandemic, but the fundraiser got me thinking about how those that cater to groups within the broader community were faring,” she said. “It was clear that Jalisco was a special place for L.A.’s queer Latinx community.”

Wharton received the award for sports writing for his story, Are skateboarders really solving the world’s problems, one trick at a time? His report revealed how women and the LGBTQ community are revitalizing skateboarding culture.

Wharton decided to pursue his winning piece when he wrote about skateboarding’s debut at the Tokyo Olympics and stumbled across a USC researcher named Neftalie Williams who talked about young skaters who were creating a new kind of culture at the sport’s street level. The story piqued his interest, and Williams got him started with introductions around the city once he returned from Japan.

The awards will be presented during the NLGJA National Convention in Chicago in September. See the full list of winners at nlgja.org.