Metro SV and SJI Win 25 California Journalism Awards

Metro Silicon Valley weekly and its digital news service San Jose Inside won 25 awards in the 2020 California Journalism Awards, the California News Publishers Association announced Tuesday, May 18.

The haul in the state’s leading journalism contest included seven first-place awards, three runners up, four third-place finishes and 11 fifth-place certificates. (Links to winning entries appear below.)

In addition, weeklies owned by the San Jose-based Weeklys group, of which Metro is the flagship, won 22 additional awards, for a group total of 47.

The first place awards included recognition for pieces by Jennifer Wadsworth on the human toll from the use of rubber bullets by San Jose Police against racial justice protesters; the Northern California wildfires; the mocking of Muslims by San Jose Police officers on their social media accounts; testing delays that contributed to the spread of coronavirus in Santa Clara County; San Jose’s quietly dropping of curfew violation citations amidst claims of selective enforcement; and efforts by defendants in the concealed carry permit political corruption case to disqualify the district attorney for conflicts of interest.

Reporter Grace Hase received a first place award for reporting on “How Homelessness Became a Civil Rights Issue in South Bay” as well as honors for business news, investigative reporting, land use reporting, coverage of youth and education and breaking news for reporting on how police officer Jared Yuen incited protesters at San Jose City Hall.

Design Director Kara Brown was honored for Front Page Layout & Design, and the team led by Steve Palopoli and Janice Bitters received kudos for its Arts & Entertainment Coverage, a category for which Metro has in the past been Calfornia’s first place winner multiple times.

Executive Editor Dan Pulcrano was noted for a column on how “Local Labor Escaped Reckoning for Earlier Racist Campaigns.” Managing Editor Bitters received recognition for a piece on how Covid-decimated hotels provided shelter to wildfire evacuees.

Metro’s sister publication, Good Times Santa Cruz, received the most prestigious award a California weekly newspaper can receive: General Excellence in the top circulation category. It is the second consecutive year that Good Times has received that honor. Good Times received seven other awards, including Front Page Layout & Design, Coverage of Local Government and Wildfire Coverage.

“It has been a challenging year on many fronts, and it’s just nice that some of our colleagues have noticed that our writers are producing some of the state’s best journalism for citizens in the heart of Silicon Valley,” Pulcrano said. “We greatly appreciate the many readers who contributed voluntarily to keep an independent, non-paywalled site alive at a time when the pandemic decimated many traditional advertising streams.”

First Place Awards

Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic-Health Reporting
Prolonged Testing Delays Undermine Santa Clara County's Efforts to Curb Coronavirus

Writing
Hundreds of Rubber Bullets Later, San Jose Confronts Human Toll of Forceful Tactics

Coverage of Local Government
San Jose Quietly Drops Curfew Citations Amid Claims of Selective Enforcement

Wildfire Feature Coverage
California Gets Devastating Welcome to Era of Megafires

Breaking News
CCW Defendants Seek to Disqualify DA

Public Service Journalism
SJPD Officers Mock Muslims, BLM Protesters on Social Media

Story Subject: Raymond Ramsey linked homelessness in Santa Clara County to racial justice in the Metro/SJI story that won the state’s top weekly award for Enterprise News. (Photo by Greg Ramar)

Enterprise News Story or Series
Racism in the Streets: How Homelessness Became a Civil Rights Issue in South Bay

Second Place Awards

Coverage of Business News
Silicon Valley's Arts Groups, Restaurateurs Struggle Through Covid Quarantine

Investigative Reporting
VTA's Contract Missteps Risk Derailing Diridon Station Project

Land-Use Reporting
Catalyze SV Fights NIMBY Backlash by Forging Alliances with Residents, Developers

Third Place Awards

Columns
Local Labor Escaped Reckoning for Earlier Racist Campaigns, Ben Folds

Land-Use Reporting
VTA's Contract Missteps Risk Derailing Diridon Station Project

Wildfire News Coverage
South Bay Sees Bizarre 'Mini Boom' as Thousands of Fire Evacuees Pour into DTSJ

In-Depth Reporting
California Gets Devastating Welcome to Era of Megafires

Fifth Place Awards

Coverage of Youth and Education
Teachers Demand Reimbursement for Sudden Shift to Online Learning