Modesto Bee takes home general-excellence honor, more 2022 California Journalism Awards
The Modesto Bee earned a first-place prize and five other honors awarded this month by the California News Publishers Association, recognizing exceptional journalism published in 2022.
Photographer and videographer Andy Alfaro took first place for his feature photo “Homeless woman with her dog.” It was one of the images with a January 2022 article by reporter Kevin Valine, “People who live in their cars could park overnight under Modesto plan. What do they think?”
The judge said of Alfaro’s photo, “This image had all the elements for a wonderful image. Emotion, strong background, beautiful back lighting, and perfect timing for the moment. There was also excellent information that made the viewer understand the subject. Nice work!”
Alfaro also had a second-place win, in the news photo competition. It was for his image “The Chavez family’s grief and anger,” which accompanied a May story by reporter Erin Tracy, “‘Everything in my power to bring justice.’ Family of man shot by officer speaks out.”
The judge wrote, “While all entries submitted had very good to excellent technical quality, 79% lacked visual impact. Those entries consisted of people on strike, protest marches and other group shots that indicated little initiative on the part of the photographer. Well cropped, strong visual impact.”
The Bee, competing in the digital category of publications with monthly unique visitors between 100,001 and 400,000, took second place for general excellence. The judge commented, “The Modesto Bee’s solid local reporting highlights a site with a strong sense of community, in its text and visual reporting as well as its video offers, mix of staff and contributed opinion coverage, and reader participation elements.”
Bee Opinion Page Editor Garth Stapley earned a second-place award for two opinion columns submitted. The judge called them “quite impressive work.”
The columns were headlined “Cowardly bigots choose nighttime to distribute antisemitic literature in Modesto” and “Ceres man stabbed 10 times after sticking up for harried McDonald’s employees.”
In the field of environmental coverage, former Bee reporter Adam Echelman placed second for his article “Valley has some of the worst pollution in nation. Money for air filters goes to Bay Area.” Said the judge: “Good headline that tells the whole story. Direct and to the point, with plenty of detail for the serious reader. Excellent highlight of environmental injustice.”
Finally, in the category of coverage of business and the economy, a third-place honor went to reporter Marijke Rowland, whose submitted entry on the sale of longtime family-owned, Modesto-based Save Mart included three stories.
The judge wrote, “Effective combination of well-written story, video, photographs and timeline that explains why the sale of the family-run stores matters, and how it came about and what will change.”
