California Publishers awarded the Voice of OC newsroom with its third, General Excellence award in the past four years alongside its second Public Service award for work about Orange County’s animal shelter.
Voice of OC’s Collegiate News Service (CNS) also won big at this year’s California News Publishers Association awards with Tracy Wood Fellows, Angelina Hicks, Erika Taylor, and Gigi Gradillas, recognized for their work alongside senior news staff, Spencer Custodio, Hosam Elattar, Noah Biesiada and Publisher Norberto Santana, Jr.
The newsroom won 13 first place awards for:
- General Excellence
- Publish Service Journalism
- Breaking News
- Community Calendar
- Community Focus
- Coverage of Local Government
- Editorial Cartoon
- Feature Photo
- Health Reporting
- In-Depth Reporting
- News Columns
- Religion and Faith Writing
- Transportation Reporting
Angelina Hicks’ years-long work on the OC Animal Shelter won first place for Public Service Journalism.
This is the first win for Hicks, who began working with Voice of OC as a freshman at Chapman University.
As a freshman, she broke stories on redevelopment in Mission Viejo that would have gone unreported, she went on to become Voice of OC’s first Tracy Wood Fellow, complete her masters at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism and accepted a teaching position in the Chapman University Journalism Department where she teaches, edits student journalists for the CNS and continues to report for Voice of OC.
She also received first place for In-Depth Reporting for her stories about the battle between OC Equestrians & Fairgrounds.
Erika Taylor, also a Tracy Wood Fellow, won her first solo awards this year, with first place wins for Transportation Reporting for her work reporting on live-streaming meetings of the Orange County Transit Authority, Feature Photo, and Community Calendar for Free Things to Do.
Former Cal-State Fullerton Intern, Melanie Nguyen won third place for Feature Story.
-Her winning story, The Plot Twist for Used Bookstores: An Unprecedented Lockdown was among the most read stories at Voice of OC last year. Nguyen now works as a business reporter for the Press Democrat.
Publisher and Editor-in -Chief Norberto Santana, Jr. took first and fifth place for his columns on the Andrew Do scandal and his watchdog coverage of the County.
Hosam Elattar’s work was recognized with five first place wins in categories including Community Focus, which recognized his stories covering the Little Arabia Community’s fight for recognition; Breaking News with Noah Biesiada for their story, OC Coroner: Former Anaheim Councilman Brandman Died of Meth Overdose; Coverage of Local Government with Noah Biesiada, Angelina Hicks, Hugo Rios and Gigi Gradillas, for their coverage of the County budget short falls, Health Reporting and Religion and Faith Writing.
Santa Ana city’s change in media policy which left photographers unable to cover public meetings won Voice of OC’s first ever Editorial Cartoon win. The winning cartoon of the Santa Ana City Council was drawn by Local artist and graphic designer, Carlos (CJ) Conde.
For the complete list of winners click here.
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