Times Takes 3 First-Place Prizes in Press Club Awards

The Times took three first-place awards as the San Diego Press Club presented its 1992 awards Thursday night.

Michael Granberry tied for first place for best news feature story on the execution vigil kept by the Mira Mesa families of the victims of Robert Alton Harris.

In the health/science/environment category, first place went to Ralph Frammolino for his investigation of a patient death at Alvarado Hospital. And Times reporter John Glionna took first place for best feature story.

Times reporters Dan Morain, Tom Gorman, Alan Abrahamson, Michael Granberry, Nora Zamichow and Jonathan Gaw took second place for best team-reported news story for their coverage of the Harris execution.

Times reporter T. J. Simers took second place for best sports writing for his account of the cross-section of people who hung around the America’s Cup media center during the races.

Second place for best arts story went to Times reporters Kevin Brass, Susan Freudenheim, Leah Ollman, Nancy Churnin, John D’Agostino, Dirk Sutro and Frankie Wright for a four-part series on arts in education.

Susan Freudenheim took second place in the best critical writing category for her piece on a local arts project critical of San Diego police.

First place for best news story by a single reporter went to Gregory Vistica of the San Diego Union-Tribune. First place for best team reporting on a news story went to Union-Tribune reporters Lorie Hearn, Anne Krueger, Sharon Jones, David Hasemyer, Jim Okerblom, John Wilkens and Richard Louv.

For best investigative reporting, first place went to Jim Okerblom of the Union-Tribune for his look at errors in the child welfare system and the effects of those errors on several San Diego families.

First place for best series went to Greg Moran of the Union-Tribune. First place for best sports writing went to Jeff Savage of the Union-Tribune. In the business and financial writing category, first place went to Elizabeth Douglass of the Union-Tribune for her story comparing the San Diego economy to Connecticut.

Best education writing went to Pascale Le Draoulec of the Union-Tribune for her look at crack kids in schools, and best consumer writing went to Lori Weisberg of the Union-Tribune.

Best political and government writing went to Colin Flaherty of the Reader.

Awards were also given for excellence in magazine reporting, television and radio.

Other newspaper awards:

The Union-Tribune took first place in the following categories: best column writing, Jeanne Freeman; best arts story, John Freeman; best staff-written editorial, James Gogek; best drawing or illustration, Ellen Duris; best page design, Chris Dark Ross; best headline, Henry Joseph; best news photo, Charlie Neumann; best sports photo, Jerry McClard; best feature photo, James Skovmand.

For newspapers with a circulation of less than 100,000, first place for best news story went to Cathy Scott of the Vista Press. Best news story by a team of reporters went to Mark Larabee, D. Wade Booth, Phil Diehl, Mirna Alfonso, Catherine Kolonko, David Hicks, Tom Bradley and Sophy Chaffee of the Blade Citizen.

Best news feature went to Lori Swissler of the Times Advocate; best political writing to Kathleen Dougherty, and best investigative reporting went to Rick Dower of the San Diego Business Journal.

The Times Advocate took first place in the following categories: Elouise Ondash for best series; Terry Monahan for best sports writing, and Deniene Husted for best business writing.

Best environmental writing went to Sophy Chaffee of the Blade-Citizen; Gary Wrath of the Blade-Citizen took first place for education writing, and Pamela Wilson of the San Diego Daily Transcript took first place for best consumer writing.

First place for best feature went to Fay Crevoshay of the San Diego Business Journal.