L.A. Times Business Section Receives Excellence Award

The Los Angeles Times Business section was named one of the nation’s best Tuesday in the annual Society of American Business Editors and Writers business journalism contest.

The Times received an overall excellence award, one of four given to the nation’s largest newspapers for work done in 1997.

The judges praised The Times’ Business section for its writing, design, news judgment, depth of analysis and variety of stories.

“The mix of national and local stories was very good,” they said. “The Times operates in an interesting arena in which many local stories also qualify as national stories. The focus of this section demonstrates that such complexities have been thought through.”

The Times Business section has undergone significant growth, boosting coverage of personal finance, small business, technology, international business, the Southern California economy and other topics.

Other newspapers with circulation of 350,001 or more that were cited for excellence in business news were the Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer and Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The Times Orange County edition also received an honorable mention in the spot news category for its coverage of Merrill Lynch & Co.’s agreement to pay $30 million stemming from its role in the Orange County bankruptcy.

Contributing to that coverage were Times staff writers Shelby Grad, James S. Granelli, Davan Maharaj, Thomas S. Mulligan, Dana Parsons, E. Scott Reckard, Lee Romney, Michael G. Wagner, Debora Vrana, Martin Miller, Scott Martelle and Nick Anderson, and librarians Sheila A. Kern and Lois Hooker.

The contest was started in 1995.