Orange County Times Staff Receives 53 Press Club Awards

Reporters, editors, graphics designers and photographers from the Times Orange County Edition earned 53 awards, including 18 first-place honors, Saturday night in the 36th Annual Orange County Press Club competition, held at the Holiday Inn Irvine.

The Orange County Register took 17 awards, nine of which were first-place honors.

Other local publications that won a first-place award were the South Orange County News, the Orange County Business Journal, the Orange County Metropolitan Journal and Orange Coast Magazine.

Times staff writer Eric Lichtblau and Times photographer Ken Hively outshined all other competitors in their fields, each collecting three first-place trophies. And the winner of the press club’s prestigious Watchdog award, given to an Orange County journalist for exemplary government reporting, went to Times staff writer David Willman.

Lichtblau won first place for best news story, best feature story and best science and technology story for a daily newspaper. Hively took top honors in the photographic portfolio, best portrait and best pictorial categories.

Gus Santoyo, with the South Orange County News, won first place for the best news story for a weekly newspaper. And Tony Cox of the Orange County Business Journal won first place for the best feature for a weekly newspaper.

In other categories, Eric Eberwein of Orange Coast Magazine won a first place award for best entertainment story and Jeff Ballow of the Orange County Metropolitan Journal won for best magazine story.

Ronald Campbell of the Orange County Register took first prize for best package of stories. Register staffer Harrison Fletcher took top honors in the best beat category for a daily newspaper, while Register staff writer Jonathon Volzke won first place in the best beat coverage for a weekly publication.

In the broadcast categories, KNBC-TV’s Vikki Vargas won first place for best television news report, and KDOC-TV’s Beth Bingham and Jeff Herrera earned a first for best feature reporting.

Other first-place awards won by Times staffers went to Stephen Burgard for best editorial, Mark Landsbaum for best sports or recreation story and Dianne Klein for best business story. Times staffers Sonni Efron, Tony Marcano and Dan Weikel shared a first-place trophy for best series of stories.

In addition, Calendar editor Tony Lioce won a first-place award for best headline writing, staffer David Puckett took top honors for best graphics portfolio and Chuck Nigash won best feature page layout.

Other first-place winners were Times photographers Richard Koehler for best news photo, Don Kelsen for best sports photo, Lacy Atkins for best feature photograph and Don Tormey for best photo essay.

Orange County Register staffers Kim Christensen, James Grimaldi and Donna Wares shared a trophy for best investigative reporting, the press club’s second special writing award.

Other first-place winners from the Orange County Register were Jeff Collins for best story in law and administration of justice, Laura Saari for best story on social issues, Jean Pasco for best story on government and public policy, and David McQuay for best column. And Register staffer Ricardo Sandoval took first place for the Marjorie Freeman Humor Award.

Receiving first place in the public relations categories were Tracy Childs of Nelson Ralston Robb Communications for best external publication; Randall Black of UC Irvine for best news release; Grif Amies of Amies Marketing for best internal publication; and Cynthia Morris of UC Irvine for best feature release.

This year’s Sky Dunlap Award, given each year to the press club member who has shown a longtime commitment and service to the community, went to Annette McCluskey of Nelson Ralston Robb Communications.

Runner-Up Awards:

For best news story (daily)--second to Nancy Wride of The Times, and honorable mention to Lanie Jones, also of The Times.

For best news story (weekly)--second to Hector Castro of the South Orange County News, and honorable mention to Jeff Ballow of the Orange County Metropolitan Journal.

For best feature story (daily)--second to Lynn Smith of The Times and honorable mention to John O’Dell of The Times and Frank Mickadeit of the Orange County Register.

For best feature story (weekly)--second to Bobbi Nodell of the Orange County Business Journal, and honorable mention to Kelly Barron, also of the Orange County Business Journal.

For best beat coverage (daily)--second to Lynn Smith of The Times, and honorable mention to Bill Billiter, also of The Times.

For best beat coverage (weekly)--second to Howard Fine of the Orange County Business Journal, and honorable mention to John Longwell, also of the Orange County Business Journal.

For best business story--second to Susan Christian of The Times, and honorable mention to Eric Bailey, also of The Times.

For best column or commentary--second to Patrick Mott of The Times, and honorable mention to Tim Kawakami, also of The Times.

For best editorial--second to Matt Coker of the Orange Coast Daily Pilot, and honorable mention to Leon Teeboom of the Inland Empire Business Journal.

For best entertainment story--second to Robert Cetti Jr. of Orange Coast Magazine, and honorable mention to Mike Boehm of The Times.

For best story on law and the administration of justice--second to Eric Lichtblau and Tammerlin Drummond of The Times, and honorable mention to Herman Wong, also of The Times.

For best story on social issues--second to Dawn Bonker of the Orange County Register, and honorable mention to Susan Christian of The Times.

For best magazine story--second to Sunni Boyd of Orange Coast Magazine, and honorable mention to Robert Cetti Jr., also of Orange Coast Magazine.

For best story on government/politics--second to James M. Gomez and Jim Newton of The Times, and honorable mention to Jeordan Legon of the Orange County Register.

For best package of stories--second to Kim Christensen and James Grimaldi of the Orange County Register, and honorable mention to Andrew Horan, also of the Orange County Register.

For best series--second to Michelle Vranizan Rafter of the Orange County Register, and honorable mention to Janet Zimmerman of the Orange Coast Daily Pilot.

For best story on science and technology--second to Andrew Horan of the Orange County Register, and honorable mention to Patrick Mott of The Times.

For best sports story--second to Karen Crouse of the Orange County Register, and honorable mention to Frank Messina of The Times.

Marjorie Freeman Award for the best humorous story--second to Dianne Klein of The Times, and honorable mention to Mike Spencer, also of The Times.

For best headline portfolio--second to Rick Krzyzanowski of the North Orange County News, and honorable mention to Janice Page of The Times.

For best feature page layout--second to Ed Zintel of the South Orange County News, and honorable mention to Tom Vasich of the Orange County Metropolitan Journal.

For best graphics portfolio--second to Dennis Lowe of The Times, and honorable mention to Sarah McNeill of Orange Coast Magazine.

For best news photography--second to Aurelio Jose Barrera of The Times, and honorable mention to Lacy Atkins, also of The Times.

For best feature photograph--second to David Muronaka of The Times, and honorable mention to Aurelio Jose Barrera, also of The Times.

For best sports photograph--second to Gary Ambrose of The Times, and honorable mention to Kari Rene Hall, also of The Times.

For best photographic pictorial--second to Kari Rene Hall of The Times, and honorable mention to David Muronaka, also of The Times.

For best photographic portfolio--second to Mark Boster of The Times, and honorable mention to Kari Rene Hall, also of The Times.

For best photographic essay--second to Lacy Atkins of The Times, and honorable mention to Gail Fisher, also of The Times.

For best portrait--second to Lacy Atkins of The Times, and honorable mention to Robert Lachman, also of The Times.

For best news release--second to Cynthia Morris of UC Irvine, and honorable mention to Cathi Douglas of Amies Marketing.

For best feature release--second to Cathi Douglas of Amies Marketing, and honorable mention to Cari Roberson of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.

For best internal publication--second to Barbara Cronin of UC Irvine, and honorable mention to Orman Day and Cari Roberson of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.

For best external publication--second to Annette McCluskey of Nelson Ralston Robb Communications, and honorable mention to Linda Granell of UC Irvine.