Fresno Bee journalists win six Gruner Awards, including public service distinction
Fresno Bee journalists took home four first-place awards for exemplary work — including the prestigious public service award — in the 2021 George F. Gruner awards competition.
The Bee competes in the “large newspapers” category of the contest, which recognizes the best of San Joaquin Valley journalism each year.
The public service award recognized a Fresnoland Lab reporting project that spotlighted hundreds of communities in the San Joaquin Valley that have experienced contaminated drinking water for years. Over eight months, reporter Monica Vaughan produced multiple stories, profiled water system problems, investigated drinking water failures and held online events to answer readers’ questions. Her work was translated into Spanish and also included a partnership with Fresno’s Univision station and reporter Nathalie Vera, who shares in the award.
Reporter Yesenia Amaro won best news story for an investigation that uncovered how a Madera County social worker intentionally discarded hundreds of child abuse reports. Amaro doggedly pursued the story, filing public records requests to examine internal emails and other documents that revealed a scramble by Madera County social workers to investigate the backlog of abuse reports. Amaro has continued to follow the story.
Reporter Carmen George won best feature story for a powerful profile of Gloria Sprague, who returned to the ashes of her retirement home following the devastating Creek Fire. Sprague had evacuated on the afternoon of Sept. 6, leaving behind an urn containing her husband’s ashes. “This is where he’d want to be,” she said.
Columnist Marek Warszawski won best column for profiling Rep. Devin Nunes’ podcast in a piece that critiqued the congressman’s theories on media and various topics.
The Bee received two honorable mentions: reporter Anthony Galaviz for sports reporting, and visual journalist Craig Kohlruss for feature photo.
The Gruner awards are named after former Fresno Bee editor George Gruner. They were established by McClatchy Newspapers and are judged by out-of-state judges administered by the Fresno State Department of Media, Communications and Journalism.
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 1:20 PM.