Times Staffers Win 39 Press Club Awards

Staff writers from The Times Orange County edition won 39 Orange County Press Club awards, including the top investigative prize, at the club’s 43rd annual awards ceremony Sunday night. Among the paper’s prizes were eight first-place awards.

The Orange County Register earned 34 awards, 14 of them first-place honors. Other local publications honored were OC Weekly, Orange Coast Magazine and OC Metro.

Times staff writer Michael G. Wagner and correspondent Lesley Wright won the press club’s Watchdog/Investigative Award for excellence in reporting about public officials. Wagner and Wright uncovered the details of a trash-recycling scandal in Orange.

Judges said the pair’s story “stood out for its thoroughness, detail, strong writing and its adherence to the category of watchdog/investigative journalism.”

Times staff writers picked up first-place awards in a number of categories.

Don Lee won for best project, series or special section, while Mike DiGiovanna won for daily sports story and John Weyler took a first for best sports feature story. J.R. Moehringer won for humorous story. Photographer Don Bartletti won for photo portfolio and Geraldine Wilkins-Kasinga for best feature photo. Kirk Christ won for layout portfolio.

Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers was the keynote speaker. Superior Court Judge David O. Carter served as master of ceremonies for the event Sunday at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange.

Paul Carbo of the Register won three first-place awards, including best information graphics, best infographics portfolio and best illustration portfolio.

Other Register first-place winners were Phil Garlington for daily news story, Peter Larsen for daily feature story, Stephen Lynch for best business story, Stuart Pfeifer and Michelle Nicolosi for best beat coverage, Gordon Dillow for best column, Susan Kelleher for best breaking news package, Dave Yoder for best news photo, Steve Zylius for best sports photo, Eugene Garcia for best photo essay and Mike Grundman for best headline portfolio.

The OC Weekly won 14 awards, including six first-place trophies. R. Scott Moxley of the OC Weekly won two first-place awards, for best weekly news story and best weekly business story. Joy Aoki and Steve Lowery won best weekly sports story. Lowery also won best magazine story. Greg Stacy won best review. Wyn Hilty won best weekly beat portfolio.

In the public relations categories, Cheryl Downey and Sara Schantz of Metrolink Media Relations won for best feature release; Ruth Wardwell of Chapman University won for best news release; and the UC Irvine Journal won best newsletter or publication.

The Press Club also awarded $1,700 in scholarships to five local college students. The winners were selected from those who attended a mock news conference and wrote a news story on deadline a week ago.

John O’Neill of Golden West College won first place and $500 in the two-year college competition, while Maryanne Wardlaw of Cal State Fullerton won $500 for four-year colleges.

Nathan Orme of Cal State Fullerton won $350 and second place for four-year colleges. Sanaz Mozafarian of Irvine Valley College won second place and $250 for two-year colleges and Jon Paul Cabot of Santa Ana won $100 and third place for two-year colleges.

The Press Club bestowed special honors on Register writing coach Lucille De View, who received the Sky Dunlap Award for career excellence and contribution to the Orange County community.

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Runner-up awards were:

News story (daily): second to Nancy Wride, third to Lee Romney and honorable mention to Thao Hua, all of The Times.

News story (weekly): second to Nick Schou of OC Weekly, third to Kedric Francis of OC Metro.

Feature story (daily): second to Nick Anderson of The Times. Third to Anne Mulkern and honorable mention to Gary A. Warner, both of the Register.

Daily business story: second to P.J. Huffstutter, third to E. Scott Reckard, both of The Times. Honorable mention to Michael Granberry and Lily Dizon, both formerly of The Times.

Weekly business story: second to Kedric Francis and third to Les Goldberg, both of OC Metro.

Daily sports story: second to Barbara Kingsley of the Register. Third to Chris Foster, Geoff Boucher and Ross Newhan of The Times.

Weekly sports story: second to Buddy Seigal and third to Dave Wielenga, both of OC Weekly.

Sports feature story: second to Mark Whicker and third to Gary A. Warner, both of the Register. Honorable mention to Bill Shaikin of The Times.

Review/Criticism: second to Cornel Bonca and third to Buddy Seigal, both of OC Weekly.

Column/Commentary: second to J.A. Adande, third to Jerry Hicks and honorable mention to Thomas Curwen, all of The Times.

Humor: second to Stephen Lynch of the Register and third to Rich Kane of OC Weekly.

Magazine story: second to Nick Shou of OC Weekly, third to Cheryl Downey of Orange Coast Magazine and honorable mention to J.R. Moehringer of The Times.

Project (series or special section): second to Kim Christensen and third to Andre Mouchard, both of the Register.

Breaking news package: second to Greg Hernandez, Davan Maharaj and Thao Hua and third to Nancy Cleeland, Bonnie Hayes, Shelby Grad, Tracy Weber and Bill Plaschke, all of The Times.

Beat Coverage (daily): second to Jean O. Pasco of The Times, third to Bonnie Weston of the Register and honorable mention to Nick Anderson of The Times.

Beat Coverage (weekly): second to Kedric Francis of OC Metro and third to Rich Kane of OC Weekly.

Investigative/watchdog: second to H.G. Reza, Peter Noah and Gebe Martinez of The Times, third to Mark Katches and Kim Christensen of the Register.

Headline Portfolio: second to Glenn Doggrell, third to Michelle Maltais and honorable mention to Mike Kirkendall, all of The Times.

Layout Portfolio: second to Alex Alvarado of OC Metro and third to Kevin Bronson of The Times.

Informational Graphics: second to James Bennett of the Register. No third-place award.

Infographics Portfolio: second to James Bennett of the Register. No third-place award.

Illustration Portfolio: second to Doris Shields and third to Val B. Mina, both of The Times.

News Photo (daily): second to Rick Loomis of The Times, third to Bruce Chambers and honorable mention to Jeff Gritchen, both of the Register.

Feature Photo (daily): second to Dave Yoder of the Register, third to Glenn Koenig and honorable mention to Al Schaben, both of The Times.

Sports Photo: second to Paul Rodriguez, third to Bruce Strong and honorable mention to Michael Kitada, all of the Register.

Photo Portfolio: second to Bruce Strong of the Register. Third to Geraldine Wilkins-Kasinga and honorable mention to Al Schaben, both of The Times.

Photo Essay: second to Mark Boster and third to Christine Cotter, both of The Times. Honorable mention to Mark Rightmire of the Register.

News Release: second to Tracy Childs of UCI Communications and third to Dorothy Jean.

Feature Release: second to UCI Communications, third to Chapman University Communications and honorable mention to South County Business Digest.

Newsletter or publication: second to Business Success, third to UCI News and honorable mention to the Chapman Journal.