Times Wins 2 National 1st Place Awards

The Los Angeles Times won two first-place awards in the National Headliners journalism competition, it was announced Tuesday by the Press Club of Atlantic City, which administers the prizes.

The Times metropolitan staff was honored for its spot news coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial verdicts, and sportswriter Bill Plaschke won the individual sports writing contest for a story chronicling the trials and triumphs of the Garfield High School football team in East Los Angeles.

The Associated Press staff was honored for coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing, with photographer Denis Paquin singled out for his picture showing a city firefighter holding a baby minutes after the explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

For public service, the News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C., placed first for stories about health problems and environmental dangers in North Carolina’s pork industry.

Richard Behar of Fortune won for magazine reporting, Gregory Kane of the Baltimore Sun won in the local interest column category, Jimmy Margulies of the Hackensack (N.J.) Record won for editorial cartooning, Maria Henson of the Charlotte Observer placed first in editorial writing, and the Des Moines Register’s Ken Fuson won for feature writing.

The Orange County Register won in the investigative reporting category for its stories about the fertility clinic at UC Irvine allegedly transferring stolen eggs of human donors to unwitting patients.

Photography winners included Cindy Yamanaka of the Register, Phil Skinner of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution and Stewart F. House of the San Antonio Express-News.

Charles Waltmire of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., and the staff of the Philadelphia Daily News were among the winners for graphics.