At certain times each year, we journalists do almost nothing except apply for the Pulitzers and several dozen other major prizes. During these times you could walk right into most newsrooms and commit a multiple ax murder naked, and it wouldn't get reported in the paper, because the reporters and editors would all be too busy filling out prize applications. "Hey!" they'd yell at you. "Watch it! You're getting blood on my application!"
Well last spring we hardly had a naked ax-murderer charge into our newsroom. We did, however, have a round of applications to fill out for the California Newspaper Publishers Association's annual awards. The Review won 14 1st- or 2nd-place nods last year (second only to the L.A. Times), so we had some steep expectations for ourselves.
This year, I'm proud and honored to announce that we surpassed last year's total with 16 finalist nominations.
Three of the 16 finalist nominations carry my byline -- two of them individually, and one shared:
Local News:
http://hmbreview.com/articles/
(Caught the Air Force dumping untreated stormwater into the Pacific Ocean.)
Business & Finance:
http://hmbreview.com/articles/
http://hmbreview.com/articles/
http://hmbreview.com/articles/
http://hmbreview.com/articles/
(I wrote these four articles as a one-week package on how the recession was hitting the Coastside economy.)
Breaking News Coverage:
http://hmbreview.com/articles/
(shared byline)
I'll dispense with the faux self-deprecation because it would be all too transparent. Allow me only to say that I'm humbled to have worked with such an excellent staff that was committed to extraordinary work during a very lean year in journalism. I'm also grateful to all of my former teachers who instructed me how to hold my own in a very competitive and energetic newsroom.
Here's one footnote, though, to illustrate the vicissitudes of newsroom life these days: three of the five reporters and the one staff photographer who earned accolades this year have moved on to other pursuits. In other words, approximately 70 percent of the newsroom staff turned over in less than 10 months.
I have a lot of love for the Review, and will always wish it well. But that can't be good.
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