L.A. Times Receives General Excellence Honor in California Journalism Awards Competition

The Los Angeles Times and Times Community News have earned 59 awards in the California News Publishers Association California Journalism Awards contest. Among the top honors, The Times took first place for General Excellence in the daily division for its circulation category in the print contest.

The judges praised the newspaper for “excellent headlines, photography and mix of stories, good storytelling throughout and effective use of photography, graphics and typography to set off feature stories.”

In all, The Times took home 31 first-place finishes, 15 second-place awards and 11 third-place honors. Reporting on leaked audio recordings that upended L.A. politics was recognized in several categories, including breaking news, coverage of local government, public service journalism and podcasts for an episode of “The Times.”

In praising The Times in the coverage of local government category, the competition’s judges noted, “This story, and its subsequent follow-ups, had tremendous impact, not just in the Los Angeles area but across the nation. The reporting team, working from a secret recording provided by an unknown source, worked quickly and methodically to first authenticate the recording and then contact and interview the people involved. As well as exposing racism among certain city council members and leading to the resignation of the council president and the city’s labor leader, it prompted a letter from President Biden and instigated a detailed examination of the city’s divisive and occasionally explosive racial history.”

In addition, the Daily Pilot won first place in the feature story category of the print competition for a story on the group Low Tide Aliens who are creating sacred geometry in Newport Beach, and first place in the profiles category of the print division for a story on Newport Beach retiree Stan Ross.

The complete list of award winners can be found at cnpa.com.