Almanac journalists honored for election coverage, land-use and local government reporting in statewide competition

Almanac journalists won accolades for their work in this year’s California Journalism Awards, announced in May. The statewide competition sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) honors work published in 2022.

Reporter Angela Swartz won first place for local government coverage for her story, “‘Massive’ public records request escalates battle over Portola Valley’s housing element”. The competition judges commented, calling it a “great story, well told. This piece had RHNA numbers explained, NIMBYism on parade, attorneys and former elected official behaving badly — just great work.”

Swartz shared first place for youth and education coverage with colleagues Zoe Morgan and Leah Worthington for “So long, early birds: To combat teens’ sleep deprivation, California schools must start their days later”. Judges called it a great story that was easy to read.

The regional story was published in The Almanac as well as its sister publications, the Mountain View Voice, Redwood City Pulse and Palo Alto Weekly. The entry was credited to the Palo Alto Weekly, which competes in a larger print circulation division than The Almanac.

Cameron Rebosio and Swartz both placed in the election coverage category, with Rebosio taking second for her series “Menlo Park’s Measure V puts the future of zoning in the public’s hands.”

Rebosio also contributed to the Portola Valley election coverage led by Swartz, which took third place for a six-story series, “Controversy surrounds Portola Valley Town Council race.” Contest judges commented that both submissions from The Almanac were impressive.

“Great reporting, highlighting different aspects of the issue, with a consistent layout and writing tone throughout the entirety of the series,” said judges about the Portola Valley coverage.

A series of stories by Swartz, Rebosio and Lloyd Lee on the battle over building teacher housing on the Flood School site in Menlo Park was awarded third place in the digital competition for land use reporting. Judges commented, “Land use stories are really about people. Your stories show that. This is the kind of local story that brings home to readers what changes in zoning and law mean to differing groups, to homeowners, to would-be renters, to teachers. And any story that reminds readers that teachers often can’t afford to live where they teach does the community a valuable service.”

Visual Journalist Magali Gauthier won second place in the highly competitive open competition for video with her piece on the new state composting law, in an entry credited to the Mountain View Voice. The story covers the impacts of SB 1383, and includes a Q&A on what the law changes for residents on a practical level.

In its competition, the CNPA separates daily and weekly newspapers. It also pits dailies and weeklies against each other in several circulation divisions. The Almanac competed in the 4,301 to 11,000 circulation division, which included sister publication the Pleasanton Weekly. In the digital competition there are just three divisions statewide, designated by the site’s number of monthly unique visitors. The Almanac and its sister news sites all compete in the second-largest category for 100,001-400,000 monthly visitors.