Times’ Ventura Edition Receives 41 Awards for Excellence

The Ventura County Edition of the Los Angeles Times has won 41 awards for excellence in the sixth annual Ventura County Press Club contest--including 16 of 27 first-place prizes for daily newspapers.

Times reporters won almost all the major news writing categories, taking top prizes for breaking news, beat coverage, investigative reporting, in-depth coverage, best series, editorial writing, continuing coverage, business reporting and sports writing.

Times photographers won 19 of 28 awards in the daily newspaper category for news, sports, portrait, illustration, feature and portfolio work. Times photographer Carlos Chavez won the Photo of the Year award for a shot of firefighters battling a controlled burn.

Judges praised a series of articles on elder abuse written by Times staff writer Tracy Wilson. The series found that elder abuse is a growing and underreported crime and detailed the county’s effort to increase prosecutions.

“A definite winner which merits Pulitzer Prize competition,” said one judge. “The writer blends facts with human tragedy. The series will remain fresh, in my mind, for years.”

Wilson took a second first-place prize for her reporting on the legal troubles of former Superior Court Judge Robert Bradley, who was suspended from the bench after numerous alcohol-related arrests and probation violations.

Two first-place awards went to staff writer Daryl Kelley. Judges called Kelley’s investigative report on the HMO revolution a “comprehensive look at health care’s boogeyman of the ‘90s.” Kelley also won top honors in the business category for a piece on farm workers’ successful effort to build their own housing development near Fillmore. Times sports writer Steve Henson won first and second places in the sports writing division for his stories on athletes’ use of creatine to improve performance and for a report on a popular football official’s battle with brain cancer. Henson also took first place in continuing coverage for reports on the troubled Cal State Northridge basketball team.

Editorial page editor Doug Adrianson was given top honors for his writing on topics ranging from pesticides and schools to advising former jurist Bradley to “stay off the bottle, off the public payroll and off the bench.”

Contest judges called writer Gary Polakovic’s coverage of environmental issues “penetrating and broad” and awarded him first place in the newly created beat reporting category.

Catherine Saillant took top honors for in-depth reporting for a profile of county health care chief Pierre Durand.

First place for graphics was given to Times graphic artist Mark Hafer for his illustration showing diseased mice on the Channel Islands.

In photography, Anne Cusack took first place in the feature photo and portfolio competition.

Besides Photo of the Year, Chavez won a first for best spot news photo. Spencer Weiner was given a top award for photo illustration and Dave Luchansky, a staff photographer for the West County Edition of Our Times, a supplement to the Ventura County Edition, won for best portrait.

In addition to first-place prizes, the Times won 12 second-place awards, four third-place and nine honorable mentions.

Times reporters who took second-place awards are: Steve Chawkins (spot news); Gary Polakovic (in-depth); Daryl Kelley (continuing coverage and politics); Jennifer Hamm (news feature); Steve Henson (sports).

Times photographers who won second-place awards are: Spencer Weiner (photo illustration, portrait and portfolio); Bryan Chan (sports feature); Carlos Chavez (feature); and Anne Cusack (feature package). Third-place honors in photography went to: Dave Luchansky, Our Times, (portrait); Mel Melcon (sports); Steve Osman (spot news); and Bryan Chan (news).

Times winners of honorable mention are:

* Photographers Anne Cusack (portrait); Mel Melcon (feature); and Dave Luchansky, Our Times (portrait).

* Reporters Anna Gorman (in-depth); Hilary MacGregor (news); Nick Green (business); Steve Chawkins (business and column); and Daryl Kelley (business).

Winners will receive their awards at a dinner Nov. 12 at the Wedgewood Banquet Center in Ventura. An annual Community Service Award will also be announced at that time.