Record Searchlight earns 18 journalism awards in statewide contest

The Record Searchlight's in-depth examination of arson-caused wildfires, how COVID-19 led to a learning gap among students and a revealing look at a homeless musician with a "genius" gift of talent were recognized recently with first-place California Journalism Awards.

The Record Searchlight's audience was able to read those and other top-rated articles first before judges selected the best work from 2021 in the annual California News Publishers Association contest. Many of the Redding winners were subscriber exclusives.

"For a small team of committed journalists, this year's state press awards reflected an incredible range of stories and initiatives that mattered to North State readers," said Silas Lyons, executive editor. "There was important investigative and public service work, and there were stories that just let us get to know our neighbors better. This newsroom is filled with talent and compassion, and you can really feel the connection everyone here has to the community."

The Record Searchlight competed with newspapers with a print circulation of 15,000 and under and in the digital category for news sites with 100,001-400,000 monthly unique visitors.

Feature story

Damon Arthur was working on a story about how Redding's unsheltered residents were coping with the heat one summer day. He approached a group near the public library where he met Alissa Johnson, who kept her electric cello nearby.

That interaction led to a story about Johnson and her skills with her acoustic cello as well. The music department director at Redding's Simpson University said Johnson's musical skills "moved my heart" and described her talent as "genius."

A contest judge praised Arthur's account of Johnson as a "stereotype-breaker."

"Excellent, unusual portrait of a musician who's homeless (and autistic) and how she fits into both worlds," the judge said.

Arthur also won a fourth-place writing award for his piece as a digital entry.

Youth and education

Nada Atieh, in collaboration with Kristan Obeng of the Visalia Times Delta and investigations editor Anjeanette Damon, then at the Reno Gazette Journal, also earned a first-place award for covering the pandemic's "lost kids" who simply fell out of contact with their schools.

"Excellent! A great story based on intensive reporting and data analysis that also centers the human element. Very important topic that readers likely wouldn't have even considered without this story," was one judge's comment.

The story also earned third-place recognition in print for public service journalism and fourth place for in-depth reporting in both the digital and print contests.

"These reporters went through a painstaking reporting process of determining how many children have gone missing from school since the pandemic," the judge said, adding the article presented "good data and anecdotes, and it was well written."

Wildfire news coverage

Judges awarded first place for a story by Michele Chandler that explored common traits among wildland fire-setters and how arson arrests were up statewide.

Chandler's story began with a focus on Alexandra Souverneva, who was arrested in September and charged with setting the destructive Fawn Fire.

David Benda and Mike Chapman earned a fifth-place award for reporting that some of the half-dozen major fires in drought-parched Northern California were burning with such intensity that they might not be extinguished until late-fall or early-winter rains arrived.

An entry for wildfire feature coverage earned fifth place for Chapman, who wrote about his parking-lot encounter with a hardened Dixie Fire survivor.

"A heart-breaking story that could have ended tragically if not for a miracle. The reporter skillfully and respectfully tells the tale of a man who had almost given up and was willing to leave the world on his own terms," the judge said.

Alan Kuhl drove through flames that night, towing his travel-trailer with his dog for company. The 72-year-old thought he was going to die so he prepared to shoot himself and his dog if he wasn't able to escape the flames.

The Record Searchlight's practice of posting rolling updates for free on major fires earned third place in the breaking news category for Dixie Fire coverage, led by reporters Jessica Skropanic and Matt Brannon. The award also covered stories by Benda about Pacific Gas and Electric's role in starting fires, Brannon on the rising cost to put out large wildfires and Chapman about the Dixie Fire survivor.

Sports

Record Searchlight sports reporter Ethan Hanson collected four awards in the print feature and digital writing categories.

Hanson's personal essay, "I have autism, and it made me the sports reporter I am," was a second-place winner as a sports feature, third in writing for digital and fifth place in the writing for print category.

"A brave, personal story about a man who just won't be denied. Stories like this increase your credibility in the community," was the judge's reaction.

Hanson earned third place for his sports feature about Eddie Grijalva, an Enterprise senior linebacker transfer who struggled to keep his grades up while attending Shasta High School.

A judge told Hanson: "Most impressed with the unique way you described the violence of the game and what that game means beyond the white lines."

Profile, in-depth reporting

Chandler returned to the win column for her story about how COVID-19 swept through Windsor Redding Care Center, killing 23 residents. The article won second place for in-depth reporting for both print and digital content.

She reported how in 2020, California regulators determined the center's staff did not take mandatory steps to COVID-19 infections.

"This was a nice tick-tock of how things unfolded at a nursing home where nearly two dozen people died. Wonderful use of public records and heartbreaking stories of some of the victims," one judge wrote.

On an upbeat note, Chandler took second place for print about her profile of Sani the poet. Redding's Sandra Martin would venture to the Sundial Bridge, stores and other public places to deliver spoken-word poems to strangers who were willing to listen.

Here's the judge's reaction: "The storytelling was it for me. You had me with the lede — someone randomly performing for strangers! What! — and never let it go from there."

Enterprise news story or series

Ask the Record Searchlight was a new offering last year. The digital production earned a fifth-place award with the R-S staff answering readers' questions that ranged from reasons behind the thefts of catalytic converters to delays on brush removal west of Redding where the Carr Fire burned in 2018.

One judge called the reader-centric service "a unique experiment in engaging with readers in a new and hopefully more meaningful way, answering the questions that are most important to them."

Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Record Searchlight earns 18 journalism awards in CNPA contest