Bay Area News Group stories honored by publishers association

The California News Publishers Association recently honored Mercury News publications, East Bay Times and sister publications of the Bay Area News Group, including the Marin Independent Journal, with multiple California Journalism Awards for reporting, photography, writing and design in 2021.

The Mercury News and East Bay Times won first place in coverage of local government, photography and writing, as well as fifth place for overall excellence among publications with a circulation of over 50,000. The Marin Independent Journal won first place for overall excellence in its division (circulation less than 15,000 copies).

Here is a list of rewards in alphabetical order:

Print Rewards

Agricultural reports

Third Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Drought’s Grip Tightens on California Ag,” Lisa M. Krieger

Artistic photo

Third place, Marin Independent Journal, “Skyline view”, Alan Dep

Arts and entertainment coverage

Fourth Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Netflix’s Crazy Canines” and “Top Bassists”, Randy McMullen, Trinity Powells

Fifth Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Exploring the Past; Life after Huey Lewis and the news”, Vicki Larson

Recent news

First Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Congressman Marin Huffman Calls Capitol Riot ‘Sedition'”, Will Houston

Fifth place, Marin Independent Journal, “Marin storm havoc – flooding, power outages, damage,” Gary Klien

Local government coverage

First Place, The Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Santa Clara County’s COVID Fines Frenzy,” Maggie Angst, Fiona Kelliher

First Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Marin’s Homeless Face Difficult Challenges in Finding Housing,” Natalie Hanson

Fifth Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Marin County Bias Test: Good Politics or ‘Bad Science’?”, Richard Halstead

Coverage of Newsom’s recall election

Runner Up, Mercury News/East Bay Times, BANG Coverage of Newsom’s Recall, Emily DeRuy, Julia Sulek, Jeff Durham

Pandemic coverage

Third Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “COVID in California: From Deadly Winter to Summer ‘Reopening’ to Breakthrough Cases and Super-Contagious Variants,” Staff

First Place, Marin Independent Journal, “San Quentin Journal Continues Through Pandemic,” Natalie Hanson

Third Place, Monterey Herald, “On the Front Line: We Can’t Cry at the Bedside…”, Lisa Watson

Youth and education

Fifth Place, Monterey Herald, “With Local Push, CSU System Votes to Divest,” Tess Kenny

Columns

First Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Jeff Burkhart: Barfly,” Jeff Burkhart

Third Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Dick Spotswood, Political Columnist”, Dick Spotswood

Editorial Commentary

Third Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Editorial: Alameda Police’s Fatal Pinning of Mario Gonzalez Was Senseless,” Daniel Borenstein

Fifth Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “SJSU President Must Speak Truth About Sex Abuse Scandal,” Ed Clendaniel

Company

First Place, Monterey Herald, “Energy Storage System Grows”, James Herrera

Fourth Place, Monterey Herald, “Perocchi Retiring, Stivers New CEO,” Tom Wright

General Excellence

First place, Marin Independent Journal, staff

Fifth Place, The Mercury News/East Bay Times, Staff

Reportage

Fifth place, Marin Independent Journal, “Marin’s drought brings echoes of the 1976-77 water crisis”, Will Houston

Drawing

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Elizabeth Holmes Case,” Pai

Third Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Pandemic Stress,” Jeff Durham

Fifth Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Immunity Certificates,” Jeff Durham

In-depth reports

Fourth Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “The Hunt for America’s First COVID Deaths,” Harriet Blair Rowan, Emily DeRuy

Informative graphic

Fourth Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Will Economy Hit Old Highs?” ”, Pa

Inner page layout and design

Third Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Eat Drink Play” for January 10, January 31, and August 8, 2021, Jackie Burrell, Judy Sanfield

Investigative report

Fourth Place, Santa Cruz Sentinel, “Coronavirus Compounds Gaps in Nursing Home Care,” Melissa Hartman

Fifth Place, Santa Cruz Sentinel, “Frustrations Rise Over Reliability of Drinking Water in Boulder Creek: ‘We’re at Breaking Point,'” Hannah Hagemann

Open columns

Fifth Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Jeff Burkhart-Barfly”, Jeff Burkhart

Photojournalism

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Best Mercury News/East Bay Times Staff Photography

public service journalism

Fourth place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Sex abuse at San Jose State University”, Julia Sulek, Elliott Almond

Coverage of special sections

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Splash,” “Bookish” and “Kickoff” Magazines, Jackie Burrell, Chris Gotsill, Jui Ishida, Davide Barco

Wildfire News Coverage

Third Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Stories of Wildfires from Big Basin to Tahoe to Giant Sequoias,” Paul Rogers

Photo of forest fire

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Blaze Inches Closer To South Lake Tahoe,” Karl Mondon

featured photo

Second Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Seniors Take Exotic Journey With Reptile Tour”, Alan Dep

Fourth Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Return of Mask Restrictions,” Alan Dep

Fifth Place, Marin Independent Journal, “The Rain Returns”, Alan Dep

Digital prices

Recent news

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Mass Shooting at San Jose VTA Rail Yard,” Staff

featured photo

First Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “St. Francis Famous,” Nhat Meyer

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Freedom High vs. Pittsburg High Football,” Doug Duran

News photo

Second Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “Family Mourns VTA San Jose Shooting,” Dai Sugano

Second place, Marin Independent Journal, “Service Support Area opens”, Sherry LaVars

Third Place, Marin Independent Journal, “Eviction from Homeless Camps,” Sherry LaVars

Open picture

First Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “St. Francis Famous,” Nhat Meyer

Layout and design of the story overview page

Fifth Place, The Mercury News/East Bay Times, “How the Bay Area‘s COVID Response Failed Latinos,” Paiching Wei, Sarah Dussault, Harriet Blair Rowan, Randy Vazquez

Writing

First Place, Mercury News/East Bay Times, “9/11: Flight 93 hero Mark Bingham’s mother leaves behind a surprising gift,” Julia Prodis Sulek

First Place, Monterey Herald, “Historic Provenance of ‘The Sketch Box’ Cottage”, Lisa Watson

Fourth place, Marin Independent Journal, “Pierced infections scare, worry Marin’s music scene”, Paul Liberatore

Profile story

Third Place, Marin Independent Journal, “The playwright’s latest work captures the life and work of her husband, the pandemic expert,” Vicki Larson