Times’ Reporters Win 3 1st-Place Awards

Reporters at the San Diego County Edition of the Los Angeles Times won three first-place writing awards and seven second- and third-place awards in the annual San Diego Society of Professional Journalists competition.

The San Diego Union and San Diego Tribune each won five first-place awards for coverage by newspapers with circulation of more than 100,000. The awards were for coverage during 1991.

The Times’ Leonard Bernstein won top honors in the government and politics category for a story published during a citywide push for voluntary water rationing. Bernstein’s story identified some of the city’s top water users, and showed that two water meters were being used at Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s home in Point Loma.

Times Calendar Editor Susan Freudenheim won the first-place award for criticism for “Crossing the Line,” a piece about Mexican and American artists who regularly use the international border as their theme.

Times sports writer Scott Miller won the top award for sports coverage for a profile of the Detroit Tigers’ 1989 first-round draft pick, Tony Clark. Miller described Clark’s mental recovery during rehabilitation from a back injury that delayed his minor league baseball career and kept on hold his position on San Diego State University’s basketball team.

In the community service category, San Diego Union reporters Jim Okerblom, John Wilkens and Rex Dalton were awarded top honors for their report on rape victims and the social service and criminal justice systems.

In the competition for newspapers with circulation of less than 100,000, the Times Advocate in Escondido won six first-place awards. The Star News in Chula Vista won top honors in four categories.

Two reporters at the Times Advocate, Martin Wisckol and Bruce Richardson, won the James Julian Memorial Award for community service journalism among papers with less than 100,000 circulation.

KGTV (Channel 10) won five first-place awards for television news coverage. KSDO-AM (1130) won eight top awards in radio news categories.

Judges for this year’s contest were from the Western Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The winners were announced Sunday at a ceremony in Mission Beach, hosted by Times columnist Tony Perry and KFMB radio’s Vicci Taft.