Sacramento Bee wins multiple top honors in CNPA 2019 journalism awards
The California News Publishers Association this week unveiled the winners of its journalism awards for 2019, with The Sacramento Bee receiving multiple top honors for reporting and visuals.
In the CNPA’s print contest awards, The Bee took first place in investigative reporting for its yearlong series, “OverCorrection: Crisis in California Jails,” by Jason Pohl, ProPublica’s Ryan Gabrielson and McClatchy visual journalist Sohail Al-Jamea. A judge called the series a “groundbreaking project,” giving a “blueprint that reporters in other states can and should replicate.”
Dale Kasler earned first place in agricultural reporting for “High & Dry,” which the CNPA called a “very comprehensive examination of the ramification’s of California’s groundwater use and how it will affect farming.”
Bee reporters Molly Sullivan and Ryan Sabalow and visual journalist Paul Kitagaki Jr. took second-place honors in the public service journalism category for their investigation into the UC Davis marching band last spring, which exposed a culture of hazing, binge drinking and sexual misconduct within the university’s student-run band. UC Davis suspended the band a week after The Bee’s initial report was published in May; in September, the band was shut down entirely.
Kasler, Sabalow and Theresa Clift were also awarded second place, in the category of local government coverage, for their detailed and fascinating “cannabis kings” investigation, which explored how a dominant figure in Sacramento’s cannabis industry has ties to Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Bee photographers were well-represented in both of the CNPA’s print and digital contests — in the latter, the publication took first, second and fifth place in news photography and first, third and fifth for feature photos.
Former longtime Bee photojournalist Hector Amezcua earned both of the top honors, for an emotional photo taken from the memorial service for slain Davis Police Officer Natalie Corona of the 22-year-old officer’s mourning parents; and of a man, Marty Stentzel, playing an accordion in the driveway of his burned home in Paradise, months after the November 2018 Camp Fire ravaged the Butte County town, killing 85 people.
Bee reporters Benjy Egel and Sawsan Morrar took third and fourth place, respectively. Egel was recognized for “Out in the Cold: Were 4 mentally disabled men set up to die in the California woods?”, and Morrar for her coverage of a 13-year-old boy with autism who died after being restrained by staff at the Guiding Hands School in El Dorado Hills.
Also recognized through a variety of print and digital award categories were photojournalists Renée C. Byer, Daniel Kim and Jason Pierce; columnist Marcos Bretón for his obituary of restaurateur Biba; and The Bee newsroom for its breaking news coverage of the Natalie Corona shooting, with reporting led by Egel, Sullivan, Sabalow and Sam Stanton.
The Sacramento Bee newsroom took fifth place for general excellence in the print contest, and fourth place in the same category on the digital side. The San Diego Union-Tribune took first place on the print side, and the Los Angeles Times received the top honor for its web presence.
The 2019 CNPA award winners were announced on Tuesday, about two weeks early. A ceremony that had been set for mid-April to reveal and honor the winners was canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
