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William Warrior, Palo Alto’s animal control officer for 40 years, shares a tender moment with his dog, Lilly, at the animal shelter in Palo Alto on April 28, 2020. This image took was the second-place feature photo in the 2020 California Journalism Awards. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

The Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Online garnered 25 awards in the annual California Journalism Awards competition, including second place for general excellence among the state’s largest weekly newspapers, it was announced on Tuesday. It was the Weekly’s sixth time in the past nine years to be ranked either first or second in general excellence by the out-of-state judges.

The contest considered work that had been published in 2020.

First-place recognition went to reporter Gennady Sheyner for his coverage of the 2020 election; reporter Sue Dremann for her feature story on the Palo Alto couple who got lost in the wilderness for nine days and also for an article on families grappling with separation during the pandemic; former reporter Elena Kadvany for her coverage of local education; and Associate Editor Linda Taaffe and Design Manager Kristin Brown for their special publication, Info Palo Alto.

The Weekly’s coverage of the public health issues of the pandemic and also COVID-19’s impact on businesses both earned second place finishes, as did Arts & Entertainment coverage by A&E Editor Karla Kane, a portrait of Animal Control Officer William Warrior by Chief Visual Journalist Magali Gauthier, and a feature story on the underground food movement by Kadvany. Third through fifth place honors were given across several other additional categories.

“These awards are a tremendous affirmation of the quality of our reporting, photography, editing and design,” said Bill Johnson, publisher of the Weekly. “But most importantly, they celebrate the work of all journalists in California who have overcome many personal and professional obstacles and made so many sacrifices this unprecedented last year to bring the news to our communities.”

The Weekly’s sister publications also earned significant recognition, including third-place general excellence for the Mountain View Voice, fifth place in the same category for The Almanac, and fourth place general excellence for PleasantonWeekly.com, among numerous other categories. The Six Fifty, a lifestyle website geared for millennial readers, garnered three awards.

Overall, this year’s journalism contest received more than 3,000 entries from print, digital and campus publications, an increase over the prior year’s total.

The Weekly’s work competed against other weekly publications across the state with circulations of more than 25,000.

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12 Comments

  1. Congratulations to all. Well deserved.
    Gennady’s political and investigative reporting – indispensable. Yes, his election coverage was tremendous.
    Palo Alto would be less a community without all of you for all our aspects you cover and shed light on.
    Bill – thanks for keeping it all going.

  2. *Was there an award for best use of electronics to censor reader comments and/or suppress dissent?

    Electronics are not required as censorship and deletions are conducted by a human moderator.

  3. Jessica Zang should also be acknowledged for her successful blog in terms of its overall readership and response.

    Her timely and pertinent addresing of recent Asian hate crimes far surpasses the atypical PA Weekly bloggings about where to eat, climate change and EVs, kama sutra inclinations, and police oversights.

  6. The Palo Alto Weekly is a noteworthy periodical that is read and enjoyed by many in the local community.

    That said, is it because African-Americans comprise only 1.9% of Palo Alto’s overall population that there are no specific articles or blogs devoted to black lifestyles and culture or any African-American journalists currently on the regular staff?

  7. Thank you Bill, Gennady, and everyone on the staff. You help make us a strong community. I am proud to support you with my monthly payment. You are worth every penny. Keep up the good work.

  9. I like this comment from the judges about Gennady’s election reporting: “Fantastic work, and far and away tops in this category. The writer shows an amazing knowledge of the city, the candidates and the issues–and, wow, interviewing and profiling 10 candidates this well is a lot of work. Truly a public service to the citizens of Palo Alto.”

    Thank you very much to the Weekly and all the terrific reporters that help to bring issues to light, to keep us informed, and to generally strengthen our community. We are very fortunate to have this paper.

  10. ° there are no specific articles or blogs devoted to black lifestyles and culture or any African-American journalists currently on the regular staff

    A possible explanation…the general readership of the PA Weekly is predominantly white and Asian.

    The advertising also reflect this focal point and any articles pertaining to EPA usually center around city council and school board elections or development projects.

    That said, the PA Weekly is a worthwhile periodical catering to the needs and interests of Palo Alto’s majority population and readership.

    A suggestion…how about establishing an EPA Weekly for the East Palo Alto and Belle Haven (east Menlo Park) residents?

    BLM

  11. Congratulations to Palo Alto Weekly/PA Online for the awards. And thank you especially for investigative pieces like the recent one on PA’s solar permitting process. Looking forward to followups on whether/how things have changed with the process.

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