The San Diego Union-Tribune took home dozens of awards in the annual California News Publishers Association journalism contest this month, including several top prizes.
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The Union-Tribune claimed the General Excellent prize, beating out newspapers across the state of similar size in the competition’s division one, including the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
“This is a true staff award, recognizing the overall excellence and dedication of all those who work at the U-T — which makes it even more meaningful,” senior editor Lora Cicalo said. “I am thrilled that our reporters, editors, photographers and other staff members are getting the recognition they so richly deserve.”
San Diego’s largest newspaper also claimed first place for home page layout and design, illustration and photojournalism.
In the opinion section of the newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board claimed first, second and third place for editorial comment.
Three individual reporters, photographers and editors at the U-T claimed top prizes in their categories: Pam Kragen for fine arts writing/reporting, Kristen Taketa for social justice and civic engagement, and Meg McLaughlin for sports action photo.
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The Union-Tribune claimed second place in its division for the Community Focus Award for reporting by Kelly Davis and Jeff McDonald about people who died or were injured in San Diego County jails. It also claimed second for print front page layout and design in the arts and culture section.
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Other second place awards for U-T reporters were Taketa for enterprise news story or Series, George Varga for music writing/reporting, Taketa and Alexandra Mendoza together for immigration reporting and former U-T reporter Tammy Murga for environment reporting.
The San Diego newspaper’s reporters and photographers also claimed prizes for third, fourth and fifth in categories such as health reporting, public service journalism and sports feature story. This award-winning work ranged in topic from accountability in education to San Diego County’s ongoing sewage crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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