Sonoma West Publishers, the owner of the Healdsburg Tribune, won three awards from the California Journalism Awards, an annual project of the California News Publishers Association.
One of the largest journalism contests in the nation, the awards were announced Saturday at a banquet in Sonoma, at the association’s annual conference. Overall, there were 3,066 entries in the contest, in 53 categories.
The Tribune’s managing editor, Ray Holley, won a second place award in the “columns” category and was a finalist (top 5) in the “photojournalism” category. Both awards came from competing against other weekly newspapers of similar sizes.
The Tribune’s sister newspaper, Sonoma West Times & News, received a first place award in the “in-depth reporting” category. The award came for the paper’s special report, “Outdoors in Paradise, homelessness in Guerneville persistent and pervasive,” a special project of the newspaper. (Read it here.)
“Whether it’s us or other news organizations, I think it is as important now as ever to recognize and award newspapers and journalism that try to make a difference,” said publisher Rollie Atkinson. “The professional peer recognition at CNPA is always an honor. I’d like to add my personal salute to our managing editor, Ray Holley for conceiving this special report and seeing it to a successful end.”
The homelessness project was a group effort and included reporting by Bleys Rose, Frank Robertson, Heather Bailey, Amie Windsor and Rollie Atkinson. It was edited and designed by Holley.
