Times Writer Balzar Wins Ernie Pyle Award

Times staff writer John Balzar has won the prestigious Ernie Pyle Award for three heralded stories of adventure that were published in the paper last year.

The award from the Scripps Howard Foundation recognizes Balzar’s vivid articles on the 1,060-mile Yukon Quest International dog sled race, an 80-year-old’s dramatic oar-boat ride through the Grand Canyon and a demanding yacht race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

“In the same way that Ernie Pyle brought his readers to the front lines of World War II, John Balzar has transported his readers to the frontiers of action and adventure,” judges said in selecting his work for the $2,500 prize.

In all, six newspapers, two broadcast television stations, two radio news organizations and seven individuals are being recognized with the foundation’s National Journalism Awards for excellence in human interest writing, editorial writing, environmental and public service reporting, commentary, photojournalism, electronic journalism and cartooning.

“The winners represent the best in our profession,” said Judith G. Clabes, president and chief executive officer of the foundation. “They exemplify the highest caliber of reporting and public service, and provide proof through their excellent efforts of what is right with journalism today.”

Michael Parks, editor of The Times, said Balzar “writes beautifully of the adventures and the real-life dramas that shape and test the human character.”

“On one level, they are gripping yarns that envelop the reader; on another, they are great psychological portraits that provoke self-reflection.”

Balzar, 50, a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, joined The Times as a staff writer in the Sacramento bureau in 1982 after working for United Press International and the San Francisco Chronicle. At The Times, Balzar has been a political writer, Northwest bureau chief and a foreign correspondent based in Nairobi. He is currently a national correspondent based in Los Angeles.

The awards will be presented March 26 at a ceremony in Knoxville, Tenn.