Times Staffers Win 40 Awards in O.C. Press Club Competition

Staff members of the Los Angeles Times won 13 first-place honors in the Orange County Press Club’s 46th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards, presented Sunday night at the Hilton Costa Mesa.

Times staff members also picked up 13 second-place and 14 third-place awards, including two of the Press Club’s special writing awards. The trophies, honoring work published in 2000, were handed out by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter.

Staff writers Kimi Yoshino, Meg James and Jessica Garrison won for Best Breaking News Coverage of an accident at Disneyland’s Roger Rabbit ride that gravely injured 4-year-old Brandon Zucker. Staff writer Scott Gold and former staff writer Tracy Weber won for Best Project, Series or Special Section for their look inside the adult-run world of youth sports.

Other Times winners included photographer Richard Hartog and graphic artist Raoul Ranoa, who each took home two first-place trophies. Other multiple honorees were staff writers James, Gold, Jeff Gottlieb, P.J. Huffstutter, Jack Leonard, Jean O. Pasco and Stuart Pfeifer.

The Investigative/Watchdog Award for 2000 went to Mark Katches, William Heisel and Ronald Campbell of the Orange County Register for their series on loopholes in the law that allowed the lucrative sale of body parts.

The Register won seven other first-place, six second-place and one third-place award in the competition. Writers at the OC Weekly won eight first-place, 10 second-place and six third-place awards.

Winners for the club’s on-the-spot writing competition also were awarded scholarship prizes Sunday. First-place winner Ben Klein of Santa Ana College received $750, the second-place prize of $500 went to Sara Stanton of Cal State Fullerton and the third-place prize of $250 went to Kelly Ritze of Santa Ana College.

A complete list of the winners:

Best Daily News Story

1st: Jean O. Pasco and Janet Hook, L.A. Times; “Bunnygate”

2nd: Jean O. Pasco and Scott Gold, L.A. Times; “Airspace Conflicts Plague El Toro”

3rd: Daniel Yi, L.A. Times; “Delicacies of Asian Cuisine Not to Inspectors’ Taste”

Best Weekly News Story

1st: Scott Moxley, OC Weekly; “Juvenile Justice”

2nd: Anthony Pignataro, OC Weekly; “Blitzkrieg Development”

Best Daily News Feature Story

1st: Barbara Kingsley, O.C. Register; “Within These Walls”

2nd: Jennifer Mena, L.A. Times; “AIDS Now a Migrant to Mexico”

3rd: Jeff Gottlieb, L.A. Times; “Mr. Rodman’s Neighborhood”

Best Weekly News Feature Story

1st: Anthony Pignataro, OC Weekly; “There Goes Peter Cottontail”

2nd: Scott Moxley, OC Weekly; “Cox’s Flaccid Report”

3rd: Nick Schou, OC Weekly; “Harald Martin’s Army”

Best Daily Business Story

1st: Bernard Wolfson, O.C. Register; “Risky Rides”

2nd: Chris Farnsworth and James Kelleher, O.C. Register; “Inside the Emulex Hoax”

3rd: Leslie Earnest, Marc Ballon and E. Scott Reckard, L.A. Times; “On the Bill at Edwards: Chapter 11”

Best Weekly Business Story

1st: Jim Hill, OC Weekly; “California Misadventure”

2nd: Steve Lowery, OC Weekly; “What the Hell Happened? The Collapse of Mossimo”

3rd: Susan Schaben, OC Business Journal; “Actor Strike Boosts O.C. Filming”

Best Daily Sports Story

1st: Mike DiGiovanna and Bill Shaiken, L.A. Times; “Disney and the Angels”

2nd: Diane Pucin, L.A. Times; “The World of Disabled Athletes”

3rd: Chris Foster, L.A. Times; “Minnesota Loves Hockey”

Best Weekly Sports Story

1st: Dave Wielenga, OC Weekly; “Cursed by an Angel”

2nd: Todd Mathews, OC Weekly; “Magnet Night”

Best Lifestyle Feature

1st: Lisa Richardson, L.A. Times; “Going to Find Lavinia”

2nd: Bonnie Harris, L.A. Times; “In Life and in Death”

3rd: Alison Rosen, OC Weekly; “Peek State”

Best Profile

1st: John Gittelsohn, O.C. Register; “Kieu Chinh”

2nd: Ben Bolch, L.A. Times; “Gary Freeman”

3rd: Steve Lowery, OC Weekly; “David Woodard”

Best Entertainment Review

1st: Dave Wielenga, OC Weekly; “The Shock Is Off”

2nd: Alison Rosen, OC Weekly; “Lit Up!”

3rd: Mike Boehm, L.A. Times; “O.C. Stage”

Best Editorial

1st: Don Angel, L.A. Times; “Supervisors vs. Voters”

2nd: Scott Moxley, OC Weekly; “What Can You Buy for $82,320?”

3rd: John Needham, L.A. Times; “Carmona Merits Support”

David McQuay Award for Best Column

1st: Rebecca Schoenkopf, OC Weekly; “My Father, Publisher of herointimes.com”

2nd: Matt Coker, OC Weekly; “Mustaches Won’t Help Underpaid Mouseketeers”

3rd: Steve Lowery, OC Weekly; “Raising Kids Can Be Murder”

Marjorie Freeman Award for Best Humorous Story

1st: Roy Rivenburg, L.A. Times; “Going for Dr. Laura’s Throat”

2nd: Rich Kane, OC Weekly; “Dear Rich Kane”

3rd: Steve Lowery, OC Weekly; “Kicking Dick Nixon”

Best Magazine Story

1st: Cornel Bonca, OC Weekly; “Pigs! Pigs! Pigs!”

2nd: Butch Warner, OC Weekly; “Jail Life”

3rd: Scott Gold and Mai Tran, L.A. Times; “The Impossible Choice”

Best Daily Beat Portfolio

1st: John Gittelsohn, OC Register

2nd: Stuart Pfeifer, L.A. Times

3rd: Seema Mehta, L.A. Times

Best Weekly Beat Portfolio

1st: Matt Coker, OC Weekly

2nd: Dave Wielenga and Anthony Pignataro, OC Weekly

3rd: Alison Rosen, OC Weekly

Investigative/Watchdog Award

1st: Mark Katches, William Heisel and Ronald Campbell, O.C. Register; “The Body Brokers”

2nd: Jean O. Pasco, Meg James, Monte Morin and Theresa Moreau, L.A. Times; “Dave Garofalo: Risky Business”

Best Breaking News Package

1st: Kimi Yoshino, Meg James and Jessica Garrison, L.A. Times; Disneyland accident

2nd: Jack Leonard, Jeff Gottlieb and Scott Martelle, L.A. Times; Biofem

3rd: Stuart Pfeifer and Jack Leonard, L.A. Times; Horace McKenna murder

Best Project, Series or Special Section

1st: Tracy Weber and Scott Gold, L.A. Times; “Inside the Machine”

2nd: P.J. Huffstutter and Robin Fields, L.A. Times; “The Dirty Little Secret of the Dot-Com World”

3rd: Edmund Sanders and P.J. Huffstutter, L.A. Times; “Dreams of High-Tech Glory”

Best News Photo

1st: Richard Hartog, L.A. Times

2nd: Chris Carlson, O.C. Register

3rd: Al Schaben, L.A. Times

Best Feature Photo

1st: Richard Hartog, L.A. Times

2nd: Paul E. Rodriguez, O.C. Register

3rd: Don Bartletti, L.A. Times

Best Photo Essay

1st: Francine Orr, L.A. Times

2nd: Michael Goulding, O.C. Register

3rd: Richard Hartog, L.A. Times

Best Photo Portfolio

1st: Paul E. Rodriguez, O.C. Register

2nd: Rick Loomis, L.A. Times

3rd: Richard Hartog, L.A. Times

Best Portrait

1st: Eugene Garcia, O.C. Register

2nd: Michael Goulding, O.C. Register

3rd: Bruce Chambers, O.C. Register

Best Graphics Portfolio

1st: Raoul Ranoa, L.A. Times

2nd: Paul Carbo, L.A. Times

Best Informational Graphic

1st: Raoul Ranoa and Paul D. Rodriguez, L.A. Times; “Extreme at the Beach”

2nd: Paul Carbo and Raoul Ranoa, L.A. Times; “Big Fella”

Best Headline Portfolio

1st: Mike Grundmann, L.A. Times

2nd: Glenn Doggrell, L.A. Times

Best Page Layout Portfolio

1st: Helayne Perry, O.C. Register

2nd: Rick Ngoc Ho, O.C. Register