Fresnoland reporters have won 13 honors in the 2024 California Journalism Awards, a contest put on by the California News Publishers Association, of which we’re a member.
Among the award-winning entries:
- First place finishes in the agricultural coverage and business/economy coverage categories, for Gregory Weaver’s “well-told story” about a feud between two major Central Valley agribusiness families – the Resnicks and the Assemis.
- First place in the enterprise news category and second place in the environment reporting category, for our collaboration with SJV Water looking into the fragmented response by local agencies in the wake of the 2023 floods in Tulare County, reported by Gregory Weaver, Omar Shaikh Rashad, Danielle Bergstrom, Lois Henry, and Jesse Vad.
- First place in the transportation reporting category and third place in the investigative reporting category, for Gregory Weaver’s investigation into Caltrans’ approval of a freeway interchange next to an undisclosed planned industrial park.
- Second place in the public service journalism category for Omar Shaikh Rashad’s investigation into the Fresno City Council’s secret budget subcommittee, which sparked a lawsuit by the ACLU of Northern California and the First Amendment Coalition against the city for potential Brown Act violations.
- Second place in the local government coverage category, for Omar Shaikh Rashad’s “muscular” examination into Fresno County awarding pandemic-relief (ARPA) funds to the Clovis Rodeo.
- Second place in the feature story category, for Gregory Weaver and Jesse Vad (SJV Water)’s investigation “Debacle in the hills,” which looked into how the affluent community of Mirabella ran out of water, and how taxpayers are stepping in.
- Second place in the health reporting category, for Omar Shaikh Rashad’s series ‘crisis of care’ looking at the fallout after Madera County lost its only hospital.
- Second place in the land use category, for Gregory Weaver’s explainer on Fresno’s proposed southeast development area project and the concerns around the cost of building a mega-suburb on the fringe of the city.
- Fourth place in the labor reporting category, for Julianna Morano’s comprehensive coverage of how Fresno Unified schools narrowly avoided a teacher strike.
- Fifth place in the general excellence category, where judges noted that “Fresnoland cares more about its readers than it does time on site.” We’re glad the judges see what we’re about – quality, in-depth reporting over clicks, every time.
We still feel like we’re just getting started. Thank you for the honor of reading our reporting, sharing our stories, and supporting our work.
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