Ventura Edition of Times Wins 40 County Press Club Awards : Journalism: Prizes are given for local newswriting and reporting in several categories, as well as in sportswriting. Photographers take firsts in eight of nine divisions.

The Ventura County Edition of the Los Angeles Times has won 40 awards for excellence--including 22 of 30 first prizes for daily newspapers--in the second annual Ventura County Press Club awards contest.

Times reporters dominated the awards in the local newswriting and reporting categories, winning prizes for best news story, best story by a team of reporters, best series of articles, best investigative story and best news feature story. Photographers for the paper won first place in eight of nine categories.

In total, The Times won 40 of the 61 awards to daily papers announced by the press club Friday. The remainder were won by the Ventura County Star. Journalists for the county’s daily and weekly newspapers submitted more than 500 stories for the contest, which was judged by members of the San Diego Press Club.

The winning stories for The Times included a series of articles on the last year of elementary school, a report on the crisis for the homeless facing eviction from their encampments on the Ventura River bottom and a look at the financial troubles facing the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez won three first-place prizes and one second place. Alvarez took top newswriting honors for a story revealing allegations that several women working the assembly line at the Nabisco Foods plant in Oxnard were forced to wear diapers because managers would not allow them time for bathroom breaks.

Alvarez also topped the competition in news feature writing, winning first place in that category for his account of an illegal immigrant who returned to her native Oaxaca in the wake of Proposition 187. And he won first place for political and government reporting for his story on the homeless men and women living in the Ventura River bottom.

The collection of photographs that ran with that story took top honors for photographer Spencer Weiner in the photo essay category. Altogether, Weiner took four first-place prizes and one second place in the nine photography categories. He also won for sports action and feature shots and for two photo illustrations.

Photographers Alan Hagman, Helena Pasquarella and Wendy Lamm also won first prizes for their work for The Times. Victoria Sayer Pearson of the Ventura County Star won first place in spot news photography.

In the category of best story by a team of reporters, staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss won for an article on the Ventura River floods in January that involved the reporting efforts of virtually the entire Ventura County staff. Times reporter Stephanie Simon won the investigative reporting prize for a detailed look at the way Thousand Oaks officials drained several city funds to pay for the Civic Arts Plaza.

Two series of articles following students through a year of elementary school claimed both awards for news series. Staff writer Tracy Wilson took first place for her stories about a Thousand Oaks sixth-grade class, while Alvarez and correspondent Maia Davis won second place for a series on fifth-graders in Ventura.

The Times also won all the awards for sportswriting, with Steven Henson and Jon D. Markman winning first place in sports news with a Little League baseball story, and Mary F. Pols taking the feature category with a profile of an 11-year-old female football player.

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Other Times first-place winners include: Miguel Bustillo for education writing and an arts and entertainment story; Leonard Reed for best local column and writing in a feature section, and Paul Elias for best military story. News editor Melinda Brown took first place in tabloid page design.

Two Ventura County Star reporters won first-place awards in news categories: Brett Johnson for best environmental story and Tom Kisken for best business/financial story. The Star also won for arts and entertainment criticism, local cartooning, local editorial writing, headline writing and broad-sheet page design.

In the weekly newspaper competition, the Santa Paula Times and Ojai Valley News won most of the awards. Peggy Kelly of the Santa Paula paper won two prizes, while Ted Cotti and Tim Dewar in Ojai each won two. Awards for television and radio stations have not yet been announced.

The Ventura County awards will be formally presented at a banquet Sept. 23. Journalist and activist Ruben Martinez, who appears on KCET’s “Life and Times,” will speak at the banquet at the Wedgewood Banquet Center in Ventura.

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Ventura County Press Club Awards for Daily Papers

Best News Story (single reporter)

1. Fred Alvarez, L.A. Times

2. Scott Hadly, L.A. Times (tie)

Catherine Saillant, L.A. Times

Best News Story (team)

1. Ken Weiss and L.A. Times staff

2. Ventura County Star staff

Best News Series

1. Tracy Wilson, L.A. Times

2. Fred Alvarez and Maia Davis, L.A. Times

Best Investigative Story

1. Stephanie Simon, L.A. Times

2. Amy Bentley, Ventura County Star

Best News Feature

1. Fred Alvarez, L.A. Times

2. Mack Reed, L.A. Times

Best Feature Section Writing

1. Leonard Reed, L.A. Times

2. Ken McAlpine, L.A. Times

Best Sports News Story

1. Steve Henson and Jon D. Markman, L.A. Times

2. John Lynch, L.A. Times

Best Sports News Feature

1. Mary F. Pols, L.A. Times

2. Steve Henson, L.A. Times

Best Education Story

1. Miguel Bustillo, L.A. Times

2. Encarnacion Pyle, Ventura County Star

Best Business/Financial Story

1. Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star

2. Patricia Apodaca, L.A. Times

Best Environmental Story

1. Brett Johnson, Ventura County Star

2. Kenneth R. Weiss, L.A. Times

Best Military Story

1. Paul Elias, L.A. Times

2. Ventura County Star staff

Best Political or Government Story

1. Fred Alvarez, L.A. Times

2. Scott Hadly, L.A. Times

Best Arts and Entertainment Story (news or feature)

1. Miguel Bustillo, L.A. Times

2. Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star

Best Arts and Entertainment Story (reviews or criticism)

1.Maja Beckstrom, Ventura County Star

2. Rita Moran, Ventura County Star

Best Local Column Writing

1. Leonard Reed, L.A. Times

2. Steve Chawkins, Ventura County Star (tie)

Ray Hughey, Ventura County Star

Best Local Staff Written Editorial

1. John Krist, Ventura County Star

2. Marianne Ratcliff, Ventura County Star

Best Local Editorial Cartooning

1. John Sherffius, Ventura County Star

Best Headline Writing

1. Colleen Cason, Ventura County Star

2. Larry Jones, L.A. Times

Best Page Design, Tabloid

1. Melinda Brown, L.A. Times

2. John Sherffius, Ventura County Star

Best Page Design, Broad sheet

1. John Sherffius, Ventura County Star

2. Rick Welch, Ventura County Star

PHOTOGRAPHY

Best Spot News

1. Victoria Sayer Pearson, Ventura County Star

2. Helena Pasquarella, L.A. Times

Best News Feature

1. Alan Hagman, L.A. Times

2. Paula Pisani, Ojai Valley News

Best Feature Single

1. Wendy Lamm, L.A. Times

2. Carlos Chavez, L.A. Times

Best Feature Multiple

1. Helena Pasquarella, L.A. Times

2. Alan Hagman, L.A. Times

Best Photo Essay

1. Spencer Weiner, L.A. Times

2. Helena Pasquarella, L.A. Times

Best Sports Action

1. Spencer Weiner, L.A. Times

2. Joe Pugliese, L.A Times

Best Sports Feature

1. Spencer Weiner, L.A. Times

2. Chuck Kirman, Ventura County Star

Best Portrait

1. Alan Hagman, L.A. Times

2. Wendy Lamm, L.A. Times

Best Illustration

1. Spencer Weiner, L.A. Times

2. Spencer Weiner, L.A. Times