L.A. Times Earns 12 Honors, Plus Best in Show, in the National Headliner Awards

The Los Angeles Times has won a dozen awards, plus best in show honors, in the National Headliner Awards competition. Founded in 1934 by the Press Club of Atlantic City, the competition is one of the oldest and largest annual contests recognizing outstanding journalism. The winners were announced on May 10.

Among the highlights: Staff Photographer Christina House won first place and best in show in the single day photo story category for the multimedia series Hollywood’s Finest, for which she, along with Times Staff Writer Gale Holland and videographer Claire Hannah Collins, spent more than four years following Mckenzie Trahan as she prepared for the birth of her daughter, transitioned to motherhood and struggled to find and keep a home in which to raise her baby. The judges called House’s entry “an epic tale of … love, loss, drugs, motherhood and homelessness on the streets of Los Angeles.”

In addition, three entries from The Times took first-place honors. Staff Writer Alene Tchekmedyian earned first place in the local news beat coverage or continuing story in top 20 media market category for “The chaotic tenure of L.A. County’s combative sheriff,” a series of articles that chronicled Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s troubled term. “Public, personal attacks by a powerful sheriff did not deter Alene Tchekmedyian’s determination to uncover abuses by his deputies and a conflict of interest involving weapons permits and donors,” the judges noted. “She combed documents and convinced terrified workers to speak to her, uncovering a pattern of unethical conduct that played a role in his landslide defeat in the next election.”

Times staff also earned first place in the news series in daily newspapers top 20 media market category for “Packed In: Overcrowded housing in Los Angeles has brought death by design,” a series that explored how L.A. became the most overcrowded place in the U.S. and revealed how some of the city’s poorest residents are affected. “The reporters convey how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed poor housing conditions that developed over decades in L.A.,” the judges commented. “They well explain how flawed decisions by leaders led to overpriced and outdated housing and zoom in to detail the deadly effect.”

Staff Writer Michael Finnegan received first-place honors in the feature writing by an individual in a top 20 media market category for a features portfolio that included “Fentanyl poisoning, child exploitation and COVID relief fraud,” which exposed a sprawling Hollywood drug delivery business. The judges lauded Finnegan for “using richly detailed narratives to illuminate how criminals poison unsuspecting drug users with fentanyl, endanger children online and dodge law enforcement after plundering COVID relief programs.”

Below is the complete list of winning entries from The Times:

Single day photo story

• First Place and Best in Show: Christina House, “Hollywood’s Finest”
• Second Place: Francine Orr, “The Fight Against COVID, a Chaplain Says, Unfolded on ‘Sacred Ground’”

Local news beat coverage or continuing story in top 20 media market

• First Place: Alene Tchekmedyian, “The chaotic tenure of L.A. County’s combative sheriff”

International news beat coverage or continuing story by individual or team

• Second Place: Nabih Bulos, “The War in Ukraine”
  Third Place: Kate Linthicum, “Dispatches from a Region in Flux”

News series in daily newspapers top 20 media market

• First Place: Los Angeles Times staff, “Packed In: Overcrowded housing in Los Angeles has brought death by design”

Feature writing by an individual in a top 20 media market

• First Place: Michael Finnegan, “Fentanyl poisoning, child exploitation and COVID relief fraud”
• Second Place: Brittny Mejia, “Her illegal abortion paved the way for Roe. 56 years later she shares her story”

Environmental writing by an individual or team in top 20 media market

• Third Place: Ian James, Szu Yu Chen and Lorena Iñiguez Elebee, “Can California Save Its Endangered Salmon?”

Investigative reporting in newspapers in top 20 media market

• Third Place: Amy Kaufman and Meg James, “The Man Who Played Hollywood”

Public service in newspapers in top 20 media market

• Third Place: Los Angeles Times staff, “Leaked Racist Tape Upends L.A. Politics”

Journalistic innovation

• Third Place: Los Angeles Times staff, “Shape Your L.A.”

To learn more and see the full list of honorees at headlinerawards.org.