CNPA contest results

Pengelly wins top photo honors

Robbi Pengelly, staff photogreapher for the Index-Tribune, won first place for artistic photo in the annual California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspaper Contest for her photo of a child holding a candle during the annual Hospice Tree Lighting ceremony on the Sonoma Plaza.

Also receiving a first place award was the fall, 2013 issue of Sonoma Magazine, edited by David Bolling, which won for best special section. And former Index-Tribune entertainment editor, Emily Charrier won first place for agricultural reporting.

All awards were in the category of non-daily newspapers with circulations of 4,301 to 11,000.

Two other newspapers under local ownership by Sonoma Media Investments also received top awards at the Better Newspapers Contest.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, competing in the category of daily newspaper with circulation between 35,000 and 150,000, won five first- or second-place awards in the contest, including the top overall award for an online publication. Besides first place for its website, another top prize was awarded for a feature article by staff writer Derek Moore profiling Rep. Lynn Woolsey.

Staff writer Jeremy Hay won a second-place award for enterprise reporting about the Graton Resort & Casino in advance of its November opening. Brett Wilkison received a second-place award for coverage of local government for reporting in the run-up to the launch of Sonoma Clean Power. And staff photographer Kent Porter won a second-place award for a news photo of a grieving veteran at an exhibition of a traveling Vietnam War memorial in Petaluma.

The Petaluma Argus-Courier, also owned by Sonoma Media Investments, took home the top overall prize for weekly newspapers with circulation between 4,301 and 11,000. It was the newspaper’s fifth general excellence award in six years.

The Argus-Courier also took first place for an article written by John Jackson about racism at a Petaluma High School basketball game; and first place for Best Editorial Comment for an editorial that highlighted the plight of Petaluma’s homeless. It received second-place awards for a business news story and for its arts and entertainment coverage.

The awards recognized work published between Nov. 1, 2012 and Oct. 31, 2013. The Better Newspapers Contest compares daily and weekly newspapers of similar sizes and is judged by journalists all across the state.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.