‘I-T’ takes six top awards in journalism contest

Tops among all small newspapers in California for coverage of housing, business, A&E and ‘online excellence'|

The Sonoma Index-Tribune took home six first-place honors Saturday in the California Newspaper Publishers Association annual contest recognizing excellence in journalism.

The I-T, which competed in the weekly newspaper division for publications with a print circulation between 4,301 and 11,000, was recognized for top awards in writing, art-and-entertainment coverage, columns and coverage of business news. The I-T also received first-place awards for “online general excellence” and our six-part enterprise series, “Spotlight on Housing.”

Additionally, sports editor Bill Hoban earned a second-place finish for best “sports action photo.”

The CNPA’s Better Newspapers Contest has grown to become something of an Academy Awards for journalism in the Golden State. This year’s winners were announced Saturday at the CNPA’s press summit in Santa Monica.

Index-Tribune publisher John Burns attended the press summit on behalf of the newspaper and offered “big congratulations” to the editorial staff.

“I could not be more proud of the quality work our staff did to earn this recognition from our peers in the industry.” said Burns. “Our goal is to give Sonoma Valley readers exemplary local journalism, and the awards we’ve received, coupled with the steadily increasing readership of the newspaper, reaffirms that we’re moving in the right direction.”

This year’s Better Newspapers Contest recognized work published in 2016 across a swath of 39 individual categories.

In the first-place award for art and entertainment coverage, judges praised the I-T’s Valley Life section for its “diverse coverage of the arts” and “fun action photos.”

The top online award was for the “general excellence” of sonomanews.com.

The I-T’s first-place enterprise news series was published last summer under the banner, “Spotlight on Housing.” Judges described the series by writers Christian Kallen, David Templeton, Lorna Sheridan and Carole Kelleher as “an ambitious, well-executed effort… smartly conceived and well-written.”

Staff writer Lorna Sheridan earned first prize in the category of “coverage of business news” for her story, “The Spirits of Wine Country,” which looked at the Valley’s burgeoning production of craft and organic spirits. “Author seems to have an intimate knowledge of her subject,” noted one judge.

Editor Jason Walsh took the top awards in a pair of categories, “writing” and “columns,” for editorials on various topics ranging from Sonoma’s recent leaf-blower controversy (“And the Rest Is Silence”) to a proposed state Senate bill on date rape (“Changing the Culture of Rape) to reactions to the Nov. 8 presidential election (“Daughters of the Revolution”).

Hoban’s second-place “sports action photo,” titled “Lady Dragons Lose Soccer Shootout,” was praised by judges for its depiction of “the joy of gaining the goal, and the anguish of having been scored upon.”

The complete list of winners is at cnpa.com.

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