Modesto Bee journalists win numerous statewide, regional awards
The Modesto Bee took home 19 awards in statewide and regional journalism competitions.
The Bee was awarded 13 top-five finishes in the 2019 California Journalism Awards Contest.
And local journalists won four first-place awards and two honorable mentions in the 2019 George F. Gruner awards. The Gruner awards, named for a former Fresno Bee editor, were established by McClatchy Newspapers and are run by the Fresno State Department of Media, Communications and Journalism.
At the California Journalism Awards, sponsored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, The Bee earned a first place for in-depth reporting on developments surrounding the proposed Straight Pride rally in Modesto.
“I’m especially proud of that award, because everyone in the newsroom touched that story, which gained national attention,” Bee Editor Brian Clark said. “In words, images and video, we did a great job of telling that story and serving the community.”
Deke Farrow’s “Modesto Man’s Lost Identity” picked up two CNPA awards: First in profile story and second in feature story. It also came in first for feature stories at the Gruner awards.
Another story by Farrow finished third in feature story at CNPA: a touching piece on a couple who had been married 72 years.
Andy Alfaro won a first place Gruner award for a news/feature photo of a woman being comforted at the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter and second place CNPA award for news photo for a poignant shot of family and friends mourning the death of a man who died in a garbage truck.
He won a fifth-place CNPA award for a feature photo award for a shot of Ted the duck, who adopted an Oakdale family last year. Alfaro also received an honorable mention Gruner award for a sports photo of a Ripon high school football kicker celebrating in the rain after winning a state championship.
Editorial Page Editor Garth Stapley won third- and fifth-place CNPA awards for editorial comment – one column on Modesto Mayor Ted Brandvold’s lack of state of the city addresses and another on a Ceres police officer who fatally shot a teenage boy, respectively.
Stapley also finished first for columns in the Gruner awards and fourth in investigative reporting at CNPA for his piece on the Modesto Irrigation District and how unfairly distributed MID charges were to its customers.
In the CNPA’s in-depth reporting category, Erin Tracy and Kevin Valine were fourth for the look into how the Modesto Police were policing themselves. It also finished fourth in enterprise reporting, and received an Honorable Mention for the Gruner awards for best news story.
Ken Carlson picked up a fourth-place CNPA award for coverage of business news, among the stories, how housing leaves seniors, many others in stress in the Modesto area.
ChrisAnna Mink finished fifth in coverage of Youth and Education at CNPA for her story about how homeless children in MOES are preparing for school.
Julian A. Lopez earned a first-place Gruner award for best sports feature for his story on the lack of high school sports referees.
This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
