An in-depth examination of the controversy surrounding restorative justice programs in east valley schools and a harrowing look at the Joshua Tree tortoise rescue’s final days were among The Desert Sun's work from last year honored at the California Journalism Awards recently.
The paper won a total of 15 awards, included one first-place honor and another for general excellence, in the annual contest. The competition, sponsored by the California News Publishers Association, is considered the state’s most prestigious for print and digital newsrooms and honored journalistic work published in 2023.
The Desert Sun competed in Division 2 of the awards, which is open to daily newspapers and online news publishers with a print circulation of 15,001-50,000 and/or 600,000-699,000 monthly unique visitors to their website.
Other publications competing in that category included The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Bakersfield Californian and The San Francisco Standard. A handful of awards, including one awarded to The Desert Sun honoring a collaboration between it and ProPublica, were open to all publications in the state.
Photos, music festival coverage receive multiple awards
Staff photographer Andy Abeyta received top honors in the sports action photo category for his photo of a Banning High School long jumper completing a jump. He also received second place in the artistic photo category for his photo of an artist being reflected back through glass within a colorful gallery exhibition.
“The reflection during a time of reflection, complemented by the surreal and beautiful colors, makes this a truly compelling photo,” wrote the judges who honored the latter photo.
Arts and entertainment reporter Brian Blueskye was awarded second place for his story about last year’s Power Trip music festival.
The Desert Sun’s music festival coverage was also recognized with the second place award in the arts and entertainment coverage category that was shared by Features Editor Nicole Kottmann, former reporter Jonathan Horwitz and current reporters Tom Coulter and Paul Albani-Burgio. That award was for reviews they wrote of performances at the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.
Four Desert Sun reporters and photographer Taya Gray were also collectively awarded the third place honor in the public service journalism category for the paper’s breaking news coverage of Tropical Storm Hilary’s impact on the Coachella Valley. Those reporters were Ani Gasparyan, Ema Sasic, Erin Rode and Paul Albani-Burgio.
Collaboration with ProPublica honored
Reporter Janet Wilson and collaborator Nat Lash, a news applications developer at ProPublica, won third place in the statewide collaborations and partnerships category for their investigation into the 20 Coachella Valley farming families who use the most water from the Colorado River. The story made use of satellite imagery to estimate who the biggest water users are. It also received fifth place in the environment reporting category.
Former education reporter Jonathan Horwitz was awarded third place in the coverage of youth and education issues for the aforementioned story about restorative justice programs in the Coachella Valley Unified School District. Horwitz is now a reporter with the Orange County Register.
The Desert Sun’s former business reporter, James Cutchin, won third place in the writing category for the tortoise rescue story , with the judges writing “What a wild story.” Cutchin also received fifth place in the feature reporting category for his look at how a proposed rezoning could reshape Pioneertown . Cutchin now works for the US Department of State in China.
Erin Rode, a former environment reporter with The Desert Sun, and Abeyta also received fourth place in enterprise news story or series for their story and accompanying photos capturing how climate change is creating new challengers for hikers aiming to complete the Pacific Crest Trail. Rode is now a contributing editor with SFGate.
Coulter, The Desert Sun’s mid-valley reporter, was awarded fourth place in the agricultural reporting category for his story about the fines faced by the owners of ranchos, sprawling properties that serve as event venues and are cultural fixtures in parts of the Coachella Valley.
Photographer Taya Gray won fifth place in the news photo category for one of her photos depicting people being rescued from mud flows in the bucket of a piece of construction equipment during the remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary. Another photographer, Jay Calderon, was awarded third place in the sports action photo category for his image of one high school wrestler seeming to overpower another.
Paper awarded a general excellence honor
Lastly, The Desert Sun received fifth place in the contest’s General Excellence category. That award is shared by editors Kate Franco, Matt Solinsky, Eric Hartley and Niki Kottmann.
In their comment, the judges commended the paper’s use of online video on its website.
“Video rules at The Desert Sun in the aptly named and can’t-look-away 'Watch Now' video player,” they wrote.
Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com .
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Sun journalists win 15 prizes in latest California Journalism Awards
Most Popular
Comments / 0