I haven't had time to count, but it's a huge year for LA Weekly in earning just-announced “finalist” nods from the Los Angeles Press Club's annual competition, The Southern California Journalism Awards. In many categories of the competition, we are vastly surpassing the Los Angeles Times. Our great sister paper, OC Weekly, also did really well.

And keep in mind, the non-profit Press Club, representing 400 member journalists and other creative professionals, where I am a board member, sends the judging out of town to be decided by press clubs in other major U.S. cities. That's done to avoid local favoritism. So this finalist list represents what journalists in other cities think about LA Weekly. Wow!

Here's a partial list, with links to come to many of the actual stories. Please read the stories that won finalist nods, and get informed!
 
A1. Journalist of the Year (Over 100K)
*Amy Alkon, syndicated columnist.
*David Evans, Bloomberg Markets.
*Miriam Jordan, Wall Street Journal.
*Patrick McDonald, LA Weekly.
*Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly.

A2. Journalist of the Year (Under 100K)
*Daffodil J. Altan, OC Weekly.
*Brad A. Greenberg, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
*Anna Scott, Los Angeles Downtown News.
*Matt Welch, Reason
*Amy Alkon, Creators Syndicate

A11 Political Coverage, Print/Online
*Bill Boyarsky, Truthdig, On the campaign trail.
*Barbara Gasser, Kurier. “Faces from a Country in Crisis.”
*Barbara Gasser, Die Welt, “Super Tuesday.”
*Daniel Heimpel, LA Weekly, body of work
*Ted Johnson, Variety, The world of celebrity politics.

A13 Business and Financial Coverage, Print/Online
*David Evans, Bloomberg Markets, “The Global Financial Meltdown”
*Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly, “City Halls 'Density Hawks' Are   Changing LA's DNA.”
*Staff,  Los Angeles Business Journal, “Market Meltdown.”

B. DAILY/WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS Over 100K

B1 Hard News
*Patrick McDonald, LA Weekly, “Proposition 8 Coverage.“
*Patrick McDonald, LA Weekly, “Obama's Gay Gold Mine.”
*Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly, “The Gangsters of Drew Street, Glassell Park.”
*Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly, “Billboards Gone Wild“
*Staff, Los Angeles Daily News, “Complete Chaos: Metrolink, Freight Trains Collide.”

B2 News Feature
*Johnny Dwyer, LA Weekly, “Before Haditha.“
*Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times, “Out There.”
*Patrick McDonald, LA Weekly, “The All-About-Me Mayor.”
*Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly, “Raven, the Death of a Hollywood Beauty.”
*Max Taves, LA Weekly, “Palisades Rathouse.”

B3 Investigative/Series
*Beth Barrett and George B. Sanchez, Los Angeles Daily News, “Top-Heavy District.”
*Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly, “Billboards Gone Wild.”
*Christine Pelisek, LA Weekly, “Grim Sleeper“

B6: Columnist
*Amy Alkon, Creators syndicate, Advice columns
*Gendy Alimurung, LA Weekly, body of work, “LaVida”
*Jonathan Gold, LA Weekly, body of work, Column
*Dennis McCarthy, The Los Angeles Daily News,Columns

B8. Entertainment News or Feature
*Scott Foundas, LA Weekly, Forgiven
*Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times, “Enough About Me”
*Randall Roberts, LA Weekly, Port in the Storm: Heath Ledger
*Nancy Rommelmann, LA Weekly, No Exit Plan: Laura Albert
*Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, “Sacreligulous: Bill Maher's Cross to Bear
 
B11 Design
*Darrick Rainey, LA Weekly, Death of a Hollywood Beauty
*Darrick Rainey, LA Weekly, Shutting Up the Little Guy: Public Access TV
*Derek Simmons, George Wilhelm and Jay Clendenin, Los Angeles Times, “Olympic Special Section”
*Kelli Sullivan, Michael Whitley, Mary Vignole, Doug Stevens, Thomas Suhlauder et al,  Los Angeles Times, “Out of Control”
*Staff, Los Angeles Times, “The Oscars”

C DAILY/WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS (Under 100K circulation)

C2 News Feature
*Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly, “The Last One”
*Brad A. Greenberg, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, “The Professor the Anti-Semites Love.”
*Carl Kozlowski, Pasadena Weekly, “Life on the Edge.”
*Greg Mellen, Long Beach Press-Telegram, “Davik's Heart.”
*R. Scott Moxley, OC Weekly, “Hate and Death.“

C3 Business
*Evan George, Los Angeles Daily Journal, “Citing Legal Fears, County Turns to Cops to Help Mental Patients.”
*Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Business Journal, “Busted Ventures.”
*Nick Schou, OC Weekly, “Jailhouse Beating Coverage.“
*Anna Scott, Los Angeles Downtown News, “The Downtown Diamond Caper.”
*Wendy Thomas Russell, Greg Mellen, and Tracy Manzer, Long Beach Press-Telegram, “Kids and Crime: Inside Juvenile Justice.”

C6    Columnist
*Rob Eshman, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
*Tim Grobaty, Press-Telegram
*R. Scott Moxley, OC Weekly
*Jon Regardie, Los Angeles Downtown News
*David Suissa, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

C7    Entertainment Reviews/Criticism/Column
*Joel Beers, OC Weekly, “Bloodless Passion,” “Float On,” “Hare Raising,” “Wacky Iraqi”

C8    Entertainment News or Feature
*Matt Coker, OC Weekly, “Rock Angel”
*Alfred Lee, Los Angeles City Beat, “Something 2 Dance 2”

C11    Design
*Brian Allison, Los Angeles Downtown News, “Don't Miss Summer”
*Daniel Kacyinski, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, “Is our fate really sealed?”
*Robert Landry, Los Angeles Business Journal, “The Next Big Things”  
*Kelly Lewis, OC Weekly, “Best of OC”

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