Times Wins Record 69 O.C. Press Club Awards

The Times Orange County won a record 69 Orange County Press Club awards, including the top investigative prize, at the club’s 42nd annual awards ceremony Sunday night. Among the paper’s prizes were 27 first-place awards, also a record.

The Press Club bestowed special honors on former Times reporter and editor Don Smith for outstanding achievement over 43 years in journalism. Smith, 71, has been a member of the Orange County Press Club since 1954 and served as its president in 1964. He was co-chairman of the club’s scholarship committee for 19 years.

The Orange County Register earned 23 awards, seven of those for first place, including the prestigious Watchdog Award, for excellence in reporting about public officials. Its weekly publications picked up six additional awards, including two for first place.

Times staff writers Peter M. Warren, Dexter Filkins, Nancy Cleeland and H.G. Reza won the investigative award for uncovering the first evidence that noncitizens voted in November’s election. After the election, former U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan alleged that invalid votes led to his defeat by Loretta Sanchez. Federal, state and local agencies are investigating.

Judges from Investigative Reporters and Editors at the University of Missouri said The Times “deserves the win because of the importance of their voter fraud story, the difficulty they faced in collecting the information to support the story and the courage of their publication in pursuing a nonconventional and politically unpopular topic.”

The Times swept several categories of awards, winning first-, second- and third-place trophies for daily feature story, daily sports action story, editorials, general excellence for breaking news, and seven photo categories.

Sports writer Mike DiGiovanna won first-place awards in both sportswriting categories--best sports action story and best sports feature story. Photographer Kari Rene Hall also picked up two first-place prizes, for best daily news photo and best photo portfolio.

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The Times’ series “Republican Reign: Orange County Conservatives and the Pursuit of Power,” won top honors for best project and best political story. Reporters Eric Bailey, Peter M. Warren, Dexter Filkins, Gebe Martinez, Matt Lait and Dan Morain produced the stories.

Times staff writers picked up first-place awards in a number of categories. The best daily news story was a tie between reporter Lee Romney, who reported on the police shooting death of a 77-year-old man, and a team lead by Ken Ellingwood, J.R. Moehringer and Rebecca Trounson covering the execution of William Bonin.

Moehringer also won for best magazine story. Dana Parsons won for best column. Times freelance writer Dianne Klein won for best feature story. Business writer Greg Miller won for best daily beat coverage. Stephen Burgard won for best editorial, and Hope Hamashige won for best education story.

Times copy editors also took top honors. Tracy Boucher and Jim Carr tied for best headline. Rick VanderKnyff won for best headline portfolio.

The Times won all 21 top photo prizes awarded. First-place winners included Alexander Gallardo, Rick Loomis, Craig Y. Fujii, Al Schaben and Gail Fisher.

Times graphics reporter April Jackson and graphics illustrator Val B. Mina also picked up first-place awards.

The Times also won five of six awards in the general excellence category. First-place trophies went to the paper’s coverage of Southern California firestorms last year and a special section on how the St. Joseph Ballet offers refuge and hope to youngsters whose lives are beset by poverty, broken families and drugs.

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County Supervisor William G. Steiner served as master of ceremonies for the event Sunday at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange.

The Register’s Jean O. Pasco won the Sky Dunlap Award for career excellence and contribution to the Orange County community. Pasco, a reporter at the Register for 14 years, has been instrumental in coordinating press club activities, including the gridiron show, over the last decade.

Chris Knap of the Register won the Watchdog Award for his coverage of former Orange County employee retirement system administrator Mary Jean Hackwood, who was fired amid allegations that she abused her authority.

Other Register first-place winners were: Carol Masciola for best profile; Ernie Slone, Bonnie Weston and Jim Mulvaney for best public service story; Elliot Blair Smith, Liz Pulliam and Ernie Slone for best business story; and James Bennett, who won for best informational graphic and best infographics portfolio.

John Westcott of the Newport Beach Light won for best weekly news story, and Dorothy Jean of the Costa Mesa Breeze won for best weekly beat portfolio.

R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly won for best weekly feature story, Kedric Francis of OC Metro for best weekly profile, Tom Singer of OC Metro for best weekly business story, Dave Wielenga of OC Weekly for best weekly sports story, Doree Dunlap of OC Weekly for best review and Jim Washburn of OC Weekly for best humor story.

The press club also awarded $900 in scholarships to six county college students. The winners were selected from more than 30 students who attended a mock news conference and wrote a news story on deadline several weeks before.

Sekhar Nabhan of Orange Coast College won first place and $250 in the two-year-college competition. Steve Ball of Rancho Santiago College won second place and $125, and Chris Ceballos of Orange Coast College won third place and $75.

Jennifer Leggio of Cal State Fullerton won first place and $250 in the four-year competition, while Phat X. Chiem of UC Irvine won second place and $125, and Jason Kandel of Cal State Fullerton took third place and $75.

In the public relations category, William Boyer of UC Irvine Communications won for best news release, and Sherry Angel of UC Irvine Communications won for best feature release. John Standiford of the Orange County Transportation Authority won for best media kit, and Cathi Douglas of Chapman University won for best external publication.

Runner-up awards were:

General Excellence (Breaking News): second- and third-place awards to The Times.

General Excellence (Project, Package, Series or Special Section): second to the Register and third to The Times.

News Story (Daily): second to Leslie Berestein of the Register and third to Renee Tawa of The Times.

News Story (Weekly): second to Sandy Bennett of OC Metro and third to R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly.

Feature Story (Daily): second to Dexter Filkins and third to Greg Miller, both of The Times.

Feature Story (Weekly): second to Kedric Francis and third to Craig Reem, both of OC Metro.

Profile (Daily): second to Nancy Wride of The Times and third to Chris Knap of the Register.

Profile (Weekly): second to Tom Vasich and third to Will Swaim, both of OC Weekly.

Business Story (Daily): second to Greg Miller and Don Lee of The Times; third to Don Lee of the Times; honorable mention to Ronald Campbell of the Register.

Business Story (Weekly): second to Jody Marquez Wood of OC Metro. No third-place winner.

Sports Action (Daily): second to Martin Beck, third to Lon Eubanks, both of The Times.

Sports Action (Weekly): no second- or third-place winners.

Sports Feature (Daily): second to Michele Himmelberg of the Register, third to J.R. Moehringer of The Times.

Sports Feature (Weekly): second to Rich Kane of OC Weekly, third to Terry Brown of Saddleback Valley SportsStar.

Review/Criticism: second to Susan Kelleher of the Register and third to Mike Boehm of The Times.

Column: second to Chris Knap of the Register; tie for third among Leslie Berestein, Angelita Moraga and Tony Saavedra of the Register.

Humor: second to Martin Miller of The Times. No third-place winner.

Magazine Story: second to Joel Beers of OC Weekly and third to Jean Hastings Ardell of Orange Coast Magazine.

Project (Series or One-Day Package): second to Jay Greene, Ernie Slone, Liz Pulliam and Andre Mouchard of the Register and third to Rosalva Hernandez, Agustin Gurza and Ana Menendez of the Register.

Beat Coverage (Daily): second to Jane Glenn Haas of the Register; third to Nancy Wride of The Times.

Beat Coverage (Weekly): second to Ian Fried of Orange City News and third to Eric Carpenter of the Saddleback Valley News.

Editorial: second to John Needham of The Times and third to The Times staff.

Political Story: second to R. Scott Moxley and third to Will Swaim, both of OC Weekly.

Education Story (Daily): second to Christine Peterson of the Register; third to Steve Emmons of The Times.

Education Story (Weekly): second to Jennifer Erdman of the Costa Mesa Breeze and third to Laurie Wielenga of The Grove.

Public Service Reporting (Daily): second to Tracy Weber of The Times and third to Andre Mouchard of the Register.

Public Service Reporting (Weekly): No winners.

Headline: second to Rick VanderKnyff of The Times. No third-place winner.

Headline portfolio: second to Paul Loop of The Times and third to Julia Nelson of the Register.

News layout: second to Kirk Christ of The Times. No third-place winner.

Feature layout: second to Kirk Christ of The Times. No third-place winner.

Layout portfolio: third to Kent Zelas of The Times.

Graphics reporting and research: second to Janice Jones of The Times, third to James Bennett of the Register.

Informational Graphic: second to Doris Shields of The Times. No third-place winner.

Infographics Portfolio: no second- or third-place winner.

Illustration Portfolio: no second- or third-place winner.

News Photo (Daily): second to Kevin Casey, third to Don Bartletti and honorable mention to Rick Loomis, all of The Times.

Feature Photo (Daily): second to Geraldine Wilkins-Kasinga, third to David Fitzgerald, both of The Times.

Sports Photo: second to Al Schaben and third to Alexander Gallardo, both of The Times.

Photo Portrait: second to Gail Fisher and third to Rick Loomis, both of The Times.

Photo Illustration: second to Kevin Casey and third to Mark Boster, both of The Times.

Photo Essay: second to Geraldine Wilkins-Kasinga and third to Al Schaben, both of The Times.

Photo Portolio: second to Rick Loomis of The Times. No third-place award.

News Release: second to Sherry Angel of UC Irvine Communcations and third to Sara Schantz of Sara Schantz Public Relations.

Feature Release: second to Cheryl Downey of Sara Schantz Public Relations and third to Roxana Kopetman of Santa Ana Unified School District.

Media Kit: second to Sara Schantz of Sara Schantz Public Relations. No third-place winner.

Internal Publication: second to Susan Menning of UC Irvine Communications, third to Lisa Bennett of Knott’s Berry Farm.

External Publication: second to John Standiford of the Orange County Transportation Authority and third to Susan Menning of UC Irvine Communications.