The Long Beach Post was awarded several top honors this year by the California News Publishers Association, including the association’s highest statewide honor for public service journalism for an investigative series on climate change called Close to Home.
In the awards’ open contest, the top work of all digital and print publications of all size and circulation is measured and honored as the best of the best journalism statewide. In receiving the top honor in public service journalism, the Post joined the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and newsrooms in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara as recipients in the open contest.
On the Post’s climate change series, one judge said: “I have never seen such an in-depth report, complete with interactive maps and videos, on global warming. If this sort of reporting does not push governments and businesses to start making changes, I don’t know what will.”
The Long Beach Post also received 15 awards in the contest’s digital category. Winners included:
- 1st place for Writing to breaking news and public safety editor Jeremiah Dobruck for Broken, about a horrific crime, the victim and her family, and breakdowns in the mental health system, stretching from Long Beach to Louisiana to Southern Mexico.
- Broken was also honored with 1st place in Story Presentation and Design to operations director Dennis Dean and 3rd place for in-depth reporting to the project team of Jeremiah Dobruck, reporter Stephanie Rivera, visuals editor Thomas R. Cordova, investigations and special projects editor Joel Sappell and Louisiana-based photographer Michael Democker. On the three awards for Broken, judges said: “Bravo to the writer who assembled this and the editors who nourished such an ambitious project. This story was intense and touching and a great example of in depth reporting with multiple elements that really made a lasting impact on the topic of a broken mental health system.”
- Coverage of Youth and Education also received 1st place honors to Jeremiah Dobruck and reporters Stephanie Rivera and Valerie Osier for a series of reports detailing incidents of violence at Poly High School.
Other top honors also went to the Post newsroom for infographic design, video journalism, coverage of local government, breaking news coverage, news photos, feature photos, overall photojournalism, homepage layout and design, and photo essays.