Bee honored for general excellence and receives 9 individual awards in state competition

The Fresno Bee was honored with 10 place-winners in the 2019 California News Publishers Association Journalism Awards contest.

The newspaper was fifth in General Excellence in the medium-sized daily newspaper category.

Reporter Carmen George led the way individually with three awards — a first, second and third.

Also, The Bee took two of the five places in investigative reporting with stories by Manuela Tobias and Brianna Calix; second in editorial comment (by Tad Weber) and second in column writing (by Marek Warszawski); and Craig Kohlruss had two place-winners in sports action photography.

A closer look at The Bee’s individual award-winning entries:

▪ George was first in feature writing for “Clovis teacher’s students rally to give her ‘year of a lifetime’ as she battles cancer.” The story of Allison Vargas and her Bud Rank Elementary School class was told in March 2019 just before she stopped teaching to spend more time with her family. Vargas died Feb. 6, 2020.)

▪ George was second for her profile story, “Woman waves at Fresno traffic for hours each day. She gives joy and happy hallelujahs” and third in coverage of youth and education for “Yemeni student who fled civil war excels in computer programming while learning English.”

▪ Tobias was third for her story, “How bad teeth and a lack of dental care can lead to discrimination and poverty,” and Calix was fifth for “City manager claims councilman defamed her over talk of relationship with police lieutenant.”

▪ Weber, The Bee’s Opinion Page editor, authored the commentary for The Bee’s Editorial Board titled “Censure is not harsh enough for Fresno Unified’s Terry Slatic. He must resign now.”

▪ Column writing was judged on a package of two entries. Warszawski was honored for “Fresno police gunned down an unarmed teenager from behind. Are we OK with this?” and “By suing Twitter and parody account @DevinCow, Nunes makes himself a laughingstock.”

▪ Kohlruss was recognized for his work at the Clovis Rodeo (third place) and state high school track and field championships (fourth).

Other Fresno-area highlights included:

▪ Sanger High School’s Hi-Lights was first in General Excellence among high school publications. Hi-Light staff took home 11 individual awards.

▪ The Fresno State Collegian was third in General Excellence among college publications, and the Collegian’s Anthony De Leon won two awards (third and fourth place) in writing.

Gruner awards

The Bee’s Carmen George won two George F. Gruner Awards announced Thursday. The annual prizes honor George F. Gruner, whose 46-year career included 33 years at The Bee, retiring in 1988 as executive editor.

The competition recognizes meritorious public service, best column, best news story, best sports feature story, best feature, best news/feature photo and best sports photo. It’s open to San Joaquin Valley newspapers and prizes are awarded in three categories – large daily newspapers, small daily newspapers and weekly newspapers. College and high school categories were added for the first time.

The Bee’s John Walker and Craig Kohlruss swept the photo category and The Bee’s Marek Warszawski, Brianna Calix and George won honorable mentions.

The awards were established by McClatchy Newspapers. The Fresno State Department of Media, Communications and Journalism runs the awards, which are sponsored by the James McClatchy Foundation. The awards are housed through the George F. Gruner Prize for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism, a fund at the Central Valley Community Foundation.

The winners and honorable mentions:

Public Service

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “A decade of force by the Bakersfield Police Department,” Sam Morgen, The Bakersfield Californian.;Honorable Mention: “Cancer patients are being denied drugs,” Carmen George, The Fresno Bee.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Sex harassment lawsuit,” Vikaas Shanker, Merced Sun-Star; Honorable Mention: “Tulare County mental health system,” Sheyanne N Romero, Visalia Times-Delta.

Weeklies – Winner: “Opioid epidemic in Clovis,” Donald Promnitz, The Business Journal; Honorable Mention: “Lindsay bankruptcy,” Paul Myers, The Sun-Gazette.

Best Column

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Vindication for Bobby Mistriel,” Robert Price, The Bakersfield Californian; Honorable Mention: “DA sounding like a politician,” Marek Warszawski, The Fresno Bee.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “MID plays favorites with electricity rates,” Garth Stapley, The Modesto Bee; Honorable Mention: “Devin Nunes’ lawsuit is threat to democracy,” staff, Visalia Times-Delta.

Weeklies – Winner: “The Six Pack Girls,” Jon Hammond, Tehachapi News; Honorable Mention: “Tirade of Merlin Jones,” Greg Little and Nicole V. Little, Mariposa Gazette.

Best Feature Story

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Allensworth still symbol for ‘what we can become,’” Carmen George, The Fresno Bee; Honorable Mention: “The final episode of the Harrell-Fritts saga,” Robert Price, The Bakersfield Californian.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “How a false birth certificate upended a Modesto man’s life,” Deke Farrow, The Modesto Bee; Honorable Mention: “The KKK and Visalia,” Calley Cederlof and James Ward, Visalia Times-Delta.

Weeklies – Winner: “A true survivor,” Greg Little, Mariposa Gazette; Honorable Mention: “Mural inspires prisoners, Cara Jackson, Tehachapi News.

Best News Story

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “The investigation into the Rev. Monsignor Craig Harrison,” Stacey Shepard, Robert Price and John Cox, The Bakersfield Californian; Honorable Mention: “Social justice groups are changing Fresno,” Brianna Calix, The Fresno Bee.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Legacy of violence,” Sheyanne N Romero and James Ward, Visalia Times-Delta; Honorable Mention: “How Modesto PD polices its officers,” Erin Tracy and Kevin Valine, The Modesto Bee.

Weeklies – Winner: “Power outages in Tehachapi,” Christine L. Peterson, Darla A. Baker and Cara Jackson, Tehachapi News; Honorable Mention (tie): “Government shutdown,” Greg Little, Mariposa Gazette, and “Seven Visalia schools among lowest performing in the state,” Reggie Ellis, The Sun-Gazette.

Best Sports Feature

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “The empty bike seat,” Carmen George; The Fresno Bee; Honorable Mention: “Lexus Green looks to continue family tradition,” Clay Cunningham, The Bakersfield Californian.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “High school referee shortage,” Julian A. Lopez, The Modesto Bee; Honorable Mention: “She made history on the football field,” Vongni Yang, Visalia Times-Delta.

Weeklies – Winner: “McDaniel uses his faith,” Jeremiah Martinez, Enterprise Recorder; Honorable Mention: “Joe Montana,” Matt Johnson, Mariposa Gazette.

Best News/Feature Photo

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Jerry Dyer and the new police chief, John Walker, The Fresno Bee; Honorable Mention: “Staying cool at the pool,” Alex Horvath, The Bakersfield Californian.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Homeless woman in Modesto’s Tent City,” Andy Alfaro, The Modesto Bee; Honorable Mention: “Graduation Joy,” Ron Holman, Visalia Times-Delta.

Weeklies – Winner: “Tehachapi’s own version of ‘Frozen,’” Jon Hammond, Tehachapi News; Honorable Mention: “The sky’s the limit, Nicole V. Little, Mariposa Gazette.

Best Sports Photo

Dailies over 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Clovis Rodeo action (the same photo that won statewide honors),” Craig Kohlruss, The Fresno Bee; Honorable Mention: “Buzzer-beater,” Alex Horvath, The Bakersfield Californian.

Dailies under 25,000 circulation – Winner: “Soccer match,” Ron Holman, Visalia Times-Delta; Honorable Mention: “Ripon reigns,” Andy Alfaro, The Modesto Bee.

Weeklies – Winner: “Rodeo,” Matt Johnson, Mariposa Gazette; Honorable Mention: “The Warriors run for a touchdown,” Corey Costelloe, Tehachapi News.

Colleges

Newspaper Excellence – Winner: The Collegian, San Joaquin Delta College; Honorable Mention: The Collegian, Fresno State.

Online Excellence – Winner: The Collegian, San Joaquin Delta College; Honorable Mention: The Collegian, Fresno State.

Best News/Enterprise Story – Winner: Vivienne Aguilar, The Collegian, San Joaquin Delta College; Honorable Mention: Larry Valenzuela, The Collegian, Fresno State.

Best Profile Story – Winner: Anthony De Leon, The Collegian, Fresno State; Honorable Mention: Harpreet Singh, The Collegian, San Joaquin Delta College.

High Schools

Newspaper or Online General Excellence – Winner: Sanger Hi-Lights; Honorable Mention: Selma Clarion.

Best News/Enterprise Story – Winner: Sakshi Palav, Selma Clarion; Honorable Mention: Autumn Pecarovich and Joseph Langley, Minarets Press.

Best Profile Story – Winner: Suriya Siriphoosit, Sanger Hi-Lights; Honorable Mention: Anna Armstrong; Selma Clarion.

This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 8:46 AM.