Times Wins Three Top S.D. Press Club Awards

A six-month investigation of security leaks in the Navy’s supply system won the Los Angeles Times first prize for investigative reporting Monday night in the San Diego Press Club awards.

The San Diego Union and the Tribune each won four first-place awards and The Times won three in the countywide competition.

In the television news awards, KCST (Channel 39) won six first-place awards, while KGTV (Channel 10) won three. KPBS (Channel 15) and KFMB (Channel 8) each won one first-place award.

KSDO radio won seven first-place awards in the radio news portion of the contest; an eighth went to Physicians Radio Network.

“Best of show” awards were presented in six categories, and Martin Hill took top honors for his two-part report on border violence, which appeared in San Diego Magazine. Tim Mayer of the Oceanside Blade-Tribune was honored for his series on the danger of floods in Oceanside; Dave Gatley of The Times won for his photographs of a confrontation between Chula Vista police and a man who was suspected of holding another man hostage at gunpoint.

Also winning “best of show” awards were Dennis Morgino, Dennis Snelling and Jim Robertson for their report on “A Strong Man Fighting a Losing Battle,” which appeared on KCST; George Riley for his public affairs report on AIDS on KSDO radio, and David Kusumoto for his public relations story on commercial developers’ reduction of energy costs, which was published in the Building Industry Assn. magazine.

The Times’ Glenn F. Bunting won first-place in investigative reporting for his revelations about widespread thefts aboard the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and Navy-wide supply system losses.

Bill Furlow took top honors in editorial writing for a pair of editorials in The Times on how local institutions have responded to the AIDS crisis. Dave Gatley won for news photography.

Union staff members taking top honors in the contest among major newspapers and magazines were Jim Okerbloom and Lorie Hearn, for news reporting; Richard Louv, for his general-interest column; Don Kohlbauer, for sports photography, and Jennifer Hewitson, for drawings, illustrations or covers.

Tribune staff members taking top awards were Ann Perry, for business and financial writing; Rick Shaughnessy, Mark Ragen, Jeff Ristine and John Furey, for political and government reporting; Tom Coat, for sports writing, and Michael Franklin, for feature photography.

Two articles in San Diego Magazine took top honors: Hill for news feature story, and Michael Bowler and Evan McKenzie for consumer reporting. Thomas K. Arnold won for best arts story, and Bill Owens for best feature story for articles published in The Reader.

The San Dieguito Citizen won four first-place awards in the competition among newspapers with circulation of less than 100,000, while the San Diego Daily Transcript and the Oceanside Blade-Tribune each took two first-place honors.

Brae Canlen and Paul Ambrogio of The Citizen won first-place honors for business writing and sports writing, while photographers Steve Whalen and Don Boomer won for news photography and feature photography.

Pauline Repard and Libby Brydolf of the Daily Transcript finished first for news writing and political and government reporting. Tim Mayer of the Blade-Tribune won for news feature writing and investigative reporting.

In television, KCST won six awards. They went to: Don Mendez, spot news photography; Noe Gonzales, feature photography; Dennis Morgino, Dennis Snelling and Jim Robertson, feature reporting; John Catto, general daily news and sports photography; Brian Hackney, regular special segment, and Tim Chelling and Bill Fox, station editorial.

KGTV won awards for spot news reporting, Mark Matthews; general news reporting, Bob Donley, and investigative reporting, Leonard Villarreal and Bruce Andres.

Other awards went to Ben Cutshall of KFMB for photo essay and Anasa P. Briggs of KPBS for best documentary.

KSDO dominated the radio news category. First-place awards went to: Kelly Wheeler, George Riley, Bill Lorin, Vince Lawford, Wade Douglas, for spot news; Bill Holland, business/economic news; Ron Reina, sports; George Riley, public affairs; Terry Moore, arts; Ken Kramer, regular segment, and Maria Martinez, investigative reporting. The other radio award went to Daniel M. Keller of Physicians Radio Network.