The judges have judged and more than 150 (woo-hoo!) San Diego journalists produced award-winning work in 2022. Check the list below for your name and we’ll see you at our annual banquet at Stone Brewing on Tuesday, June 20, where you can pick up your award. Click here for details and a link to purchase tickets. We’ll be announcing first, second and third place winners, and winners of our special awards, at the banquet.

This year, SPJ San Diego will award up to five $1,500 scholarships to local college students in the categories of print, photojournalism and video/audio/multimedia. We are also awarding one $1,400 scholarship in honor of former North County Times columnist Agnes Diggs and one $1,000 scholarship in honor of former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Bradley J. Fikes.

The deadline for scholarship applications is 9 p.m. Monday, April 17, 2023. See below for the full contest rules.

If you have any questions, email sdspjcollege@gmail.com.

Enter to win a print, photography or multimedia scholarship.
Enter to win the Agnes Diggs scholarship.
Enter to win the Bradley J. Fikes scholarship.

San Diego SPJ is kicking off its annual journalism contest a little early this year. We figured your best stories from 2022 will be fresh in your mind and we’re excited to introduce some new awards categories. The official contest launch date is Monday, Jan. 30. We’ll accept submissions through Monday, Feb. 27. Early bird pricing will be available through Monday, Feb. 20, and regular entry pricing takes effect on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Here’s all the information you need to enter:

How to enter
Contest guidelines
Contest FAQ

Stay tuned for more details later this month. We’ll announce the contest launch here on our website, via email and on social media — including a link to the contest website — so keep an eye out.

Students: Please note that we are not launching our scholarship contest on Jan. 30. It will kick off at a later date, to be announced.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email spjsandiego@gmail.com.

Join San Diego SPJ, the San Diego Association of Black Journalists and the San Diego Press Club for a fun holiday mixer!

When: Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Where: The Church by The Lost Abbey, 1313 J St. in East Village

The space is mostly outdoors, so we recommend bringing a sweater. We’ll provide pizza and dessert. Drinks are available for purchase at the bar. Street parking is available, or you can park in the Padres’ Tailgate Park parking lot.

Please RSVP by Monday, Dec. 5.

In addition to being honored with two Society of Professional Journalists’ Circle of Excellence Awards for our work on newsroom diversity and First Amendment advocacy, San Diego SPJ was thrilled to receive the Large Chapter of the Year award at SPJ’s 2022 annual conference. Board members Bella Ross and Jakob McWhinney accepted the award on our behalf.

Judges noted SD-SPJs newsroom diversity survey, describing it as “a challenging feat to accomplish because some newsrooms wanted to refrain from participating” and the chapter’s work on open government issues, including board members’ meeting with staff from the San Diego mayor’s office regarding the city’s email retention policy. That advocacy work that led to the city implementing the longest email-retention policy in the state. Also mentioned was SD-SPJ’s new mentorship program (keep an eye on this space for the program’s second round) and the continuation of our annual Wall, Window and Sunshine awards, among other chapter activities.

SD-SPJ wants to thank our members for their continued support. Y’all are the best! Not a member? Join here.

_{Los Angeles Times photojournalist Marcus Yam}

On Saturday, Oct. 15, the San Diego Union-Tribune will hold its inaugural Festival of Journalism. The daylong event (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions on headline topics and a screening of the documentary “Journalism at Risk.”

Keynote speakers:

• Steve Sebelius, politics editor and columnist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, who’ll discuss the legacy of his former colleague, Jeff German. German was killed last month by a public official he was investigating.
• Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Marcus Yam, one of the last western journalists to leave Afghanistan after the country fell to the Taliban, will share stories about what it’s like on the frontlines of conflict.
• Justin Brooks, director and co-founder of the California Innocence Project, will talk about how biases and misinformation can cost people their freedom and, in some cases, their lives.

Panels topics include the 101 Ash St. debacle, the high rate of deaths in San Diego jails, the gang rape accusations involving SDSU football players and firsthand accounts from journalists working in Tijuana.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Tula Community Center at San Diego State University (6126 Montezuma Road).

Check out the full schedule and register to attend. We’ll see you there!

On Saturday, Oct. 22, from noon to 1:30 p.m., join the Coronado Public Library and San Diego State University’s School of Journalism & Media Studies for a luncheon to recognize U.S. Media Literacy Week. Hear about the work of the Community News Team Project, which will be celebrating the launch of its website, FACTLY (Facts, Accountability, Clarity, Truth, Library and You). The luncheon will also feature a keynote address by Major Garrett, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and co-author of The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of “The Big Lie.”

The event is free, but you must RSVP to iweston@coronado.ca.us by Saturday, Oct. 1.

San Diego SPJ is excited to welcome five new members to our board and wish a fond farewell and a big thanks to departing board members Matthew Halgren, Kendra Sitton, Jared Whitlock and Lynn Walsh.

Click here to see a list of current board members, including our executive board, and their contact information.

Cody Dulaney

Cody Dulaney is an investigative reporter with inewsource. His focus is on social impact and government accountability, with an emphasis on housing, homelessness and law enforcement. Cody’s work revealed mismanagement and neglect in COVID-19 hotel shelters run by San Diego County, and exposed half of the county’s local police agencies for breaking state law by sharing drivers’ location data across the nation. Prior to moving to San Diego, he worked on investigative teams with newspapers in Florida and South Carolina.

Jakob McWhinney

Jakob McWhinney is a multimedia journalist born and raised in San Diego. He returned to community college during the COVID-19 pandemic and discovered a passion for journalism. By his second semester with City College’s City Times Media, he was appointed operations manager of the entire student news organization, which includes a digital news site, a radio station and a weekly TV news show. During that semester he was also hired as an intern at Voice of San Diego, where he wrote stories about homelessness, COVID-19 testing operations and COVID-era right-wing organizing. He was subsequently hired as Voice’s Education Reporter.

He strives to communicate to audiences why — in this most convoluted and apathetic of times — they should care about the world around them and the people who inhabit it. He hopes to use journalism to uplift and empower his hometown by communicating complex issues in digestible ways.

Adam Racusin

Adam Racusin is part of the investigative team at ABC 10News in San Diego. He covers everything from the courts and politics to consumer issues across San Diego County. His reporting has led to getting people their money back, sending bad actors behind bars, new policies at government agencies, and encouraging lawmakers to promise new legislation. Adam is also a watchdog over the child welfare system in San Diego County. Since joining 10News, Adam’s work has been honored by the San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the San Diego Press Club, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Pacific Southwest Chapter, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the National Headliner Awards. He has reported in television markets from Montana to Texas and several spots in between.

Bella Ross

Bella Ross is a community engagement specialist for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s opinion section and member of the Editorial Board, a role she started in November 2021. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona and also lived in North Carolina before moving to north San Diego County in 2015. She previously worked as a web producer for inewsource, managing social media content and newsletters, and also freelanced covering local government, schools and equity issues for publications such as Voice of San Diego, CalMatters, North Coast Current and Scripps Ranch News. She graduated from San Diego State University with degrees in journalism and political science in May 2020. She also served as the editor in chief of the campus newspaper, The Daily Aztec.

Steve Walsh

Steve Walsh is the military and veterans reporter at KPBS. He works with American Homefront, a national collaboration between public media stations and NPR, which looks at military and vet issues. Before KPBS, Walsh worked for Lakeshore Public Radio in Gary, Ind., and Chicago Public Radio, where he was a host producer with Vocalo, a project to open public media to diverse audiences. As a print reporter for the Post-Tribune, Walsh covered the Indiana statehouse and was embedded twice with U.S. troops during the Iraq War.

SD-SPJ was honored to be a co-sponsor (along with the San Diego County Bar Association and the San Diego County Superior Court) of this year’s annual Bench/Bar/Media panel discussion. The topic was timely and the panelists provided important insight into the past, present and future of the Supreme Court. If you weren’t able to join us, read a summary of the topic and short bios of the panelists and watch the video from the event.

Thanks to everyone who attended our 2022 awards reception last night. It was another great opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues, congratulate the winners of our journalism contest and listen to an amazing speech by our Journalist of the Year, Vicente Calderon. Thanks to Stone Brewing – Liberty Station for providing great service and a beautiful venue!

Click here for a full list of winners, and read comments from judges on the first-place awardees. If you were unable to attend and would like to grab your 1st place plaque or 2nd or 3rd place certificates, please email us at spjsandiego@gmail.com. Congratulations to all the winners and we’ll see you next year!

Each year, the San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awards scholarships to local college students and recent graduates who show keen journalism chops. We’re always impressed and this year was no different. Higher ed is expensive, and we hope to make it a little more affordable for these future reporters. Below are our winners and a piece of work they’re particularly proud of. Celebrate them on July 21 at our annual awards reception at Stone Brewing in Point Loma.

Print Journalism Scholarships

Jakob McWhinney, San Diego City College. Read Jakob’s story, “How a San Diego Church Became a Nexus of Anti-Vaccine, Anti-COVID Lockdown and Right-wing Political Organizing.”

Elaine Alfaro, Point Loma Nazarene University. Read Lainie’s opinion piece, “For young people like me, managing money is like a social media experience.”

Niloufar Shahbandi, UC San Diego. Read Niloufar’s story, “Workers Protest Poor Working Conditions at HDH.”

*****

Multimedia Journalism Scholarships

Maritza Camacho, San Diego State University. Listen to the first episode of Maritza’s NPR syndicated podcast, Chronic Catastrophe.

Katy Stegall, San Diego State University. Check out Katy’s multimedia report, “San Diego County looks for solutions as fentanyl deaths continue to rise.”

*****

Bradley J. Fikes Scholarship (in honor of San Diego Union-Tribune science journalist Brad Fikes, who died in December 2019)

Esteban Preciado, Southwestern College. Read Esteban’s compelling piece about communing with Bwindi Mountain Gorillas (flip through to page 17)

UPDATE! THE CONTEST DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO MONDAY, MAY 9, AT NOON.

Need to renew your SPJ membership to take advantage of our special membership entry fees? Through Friday, May 6, SPJ is offering $25 off the regular membership price of $75 (the website still advertises the cost as $75, but trust us — it’s $50).

CALLING ALL WINNERS!

The 2022 SPJ San Diego Area Journalism Competition will recognize outstanding work by San Diego student and professional journalists published or broadcast during the 2021 calendar year. Contest entries will be accepted Monday, April 4, through Monday, May 2 at 9 p.m. May 9 at noon, PST. Awards submitted by 9 p.m. PST on Monday, April 25, will get a discounted entry rate (please see instructions for actual fees).

This year’s Distinguished Coverage Award will honor stories about education, either coverage of a specific issue or ongoing education coverage. Each outlet should submit its best story, series or show/program along with an essay of no more than 500 words explaining why the coverage merits recognition. This award is open to all outlets.

We are also accepting applications for five $1,000 scholarships (in print, photography and multimedia), one $1,000 Agnes Diggs scholarship from the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation and our $1,000 Bradley J. Fikes scholarship (preference is given to applicants who show an interest in science or technology reporting).

Winners of the awards and scholarships will be announced on Thursday, July 21, at our awards reception at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Liberty Station.

Submit your entries using the BetterBNC Media Awards Platform. To register or enter the contest, open a new browser window or tab to http://www.betterbnc.com. Keep this window open to refer to as you submit your awards.

If you have entered other contests on this platform before, either for last year’s SD-SPJ competition or for the SD Press Club awards, you are already in the system.

Below are directions for preparing and submitting entries. If you have questions, please contact Terry Williams at 619-743-3669 or spj.sandiego@cox.net.

All entries must be submitted online (except for entries in the College Media Best Newspaper category, which must be mailed and postmarked by the contest deadline to: SPJ P.O. Box 880482, San Diego, CA 92168-0482). All entries must be entered by or on behalf of the individuals who produced the work and must identify those individuals.

Best of luck to all of our applicants!

How to Enter

Contest Guidelines and Categories 2022

Scholarship Details

FAQs 2022

Every year, the San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honors public officials, individuals and agencies who did the best (and the worst) job of ensuring that government is accessible and transparent. We’re proud to announce this year’s award winners and will celebrate them with a reception on the back patio of Starlite restaurant from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, March 23. An RSVP is required. Please note that Starlite is a 21+.

Window Award: Music Watson, Chief of Staff, San Diego County Office of Education

SD-SPJ’s annual Window Award goes to a person or public agency that has prioritized transparency and access to information. This year’s winner is Music Watson. Watson has been with the San Diego County Office of Education since 2012 and has earned a reputation among local education reporters for being helpful and transparent — someone who will go out of her way to help journalists get the information they need. “Music is the best,” said NBC7’s Rory Devine. “She knows our deadlines and works diligently to help us meet them.”  Voice of San Diego education reporter Will Huntsberry describes Watson as someone who never just gives a reporter a canned statement. “Music is happy to help put any reporter in touch with anyone who works for the San Diego County Office of Education,” he said. “And if there is a document or piece of information she has access to, she will not hesitate to provide it. If government agencies were full of people like her, the benefit to public knowledge would be incredible and exponential.”

Wall Award: San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

Our Wall Award goes to the person or public agency that made it difficult for journalists to do their jobs by ignoring information requests or otherwise compromising the public’s right to know. 

Unfortunately, this is the second time in two years we’ve given this award to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. In 2020, we criticized the department for putting up roadblocks to requests for basic information on arrests, investigations and deaths in custody. To the department’s credit, it now issues a press release within 24 hours of a death and we appreciate the responsiveness of public information officer Lt. Amber Baggs. But problems remain. The department has also been extraordinarily slow at releasing the records it is required to disclose pursuant to SB 1421, California’s landmark police transparency law. The law went into effect in January 2019; more than three years later, at the end of 2021, the department was still far from releasing all of the mandated records. It also offered a ham-fisted response to criticism about a video that purported to show a deputy collapsing after coming into contact with fentanyl. Scores of addiction experts were quick to point out that the video was inaccurate — you can’t overdose from touching fentanyl — and that misinformation about the drug could lead to treatment delays. As of this posting, the department still has the video on its website with no disclaimer. 

Sunshine Award: Dave Maass, Electronic Frontier Foundation

SD-SPJ’s Sunshine Award goes to a journalist or community member who went above and beyond to make the government more transparent and hold elected officials accountable. This year’s winner is Dave Maass, a former San Diego reporter who moved to Northern California in 2013 to work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit working to defend privacy rights and free speech. Reporters and members of the public who have delved into government surveillance issues praise Maass for his passion and depth of knowledge. Journalist Katy Stegall credited Maass for leading the team that created the Atlas of Surveillance, an interactive map that shows all surveillance technologies being used along the U.S-Mexico border. “He’s also one of the few experts in the country who is able to explain this highly complex topic to both academics, reporters, activists and any layperson who wants to learn more about the surveillance,” Stegall said. “His deep knowledge and understanding of the topic is even further amplified by his passion, willingness and flexibility to meet others where they are and help them fully understand how surveillance impacts communities.”

Skylight Award: Greg Block

SD-SPJ’s Skylight Award is reserved for San Diegans who have devoted their careers to championing the public’s right to know. This year’s award goes to Greg Block, a longtime public affairs pro whose past gigs included the San Diego mayor’s office and San Diego State University. He died in early November after a years-long battle with cancer. Block always went out of his way to help journalists and mentor young reporters. Even when Block was going through harsh chemotherapy treatments, he continued to help facilitate interviews and was never too tired to share his thoughts on a story or a tweet — good and bad — via text message. Block was tireless in his efforts to make sure journalists had the right information and proper context. He also cared deeply about San Diego public affairs and regularly had spirited conversations with beat reporters about the stories of the day. Before he died, Block worked with SDSU to set up a scholarship for young journalists. In his honor, San Diego SPJ will be donating $100 to this scholarship and we encourage our members to make a donation as well.

Last fall, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors announced it was forming a transparency committee to look into ways to make government more accessible and open to the media and members of the public.  Supervisors Nora Vargas and Joel Anderson are leading the committee. SPJ-SD has met with representatives from their offices to discuss issues about county communications officers’ responsiveness to reporters and the county’s current processes for handling public records requests. 

Here is our latest correspondence with the committee; the letter was also sent to Supervisors Nathan Fletcher, Jim Desmond and Terra Lawson-Remer. If you have any questions about the letter or concerns you’d like us to share with the committee, send an email to: spjsandiego@gmail.com.

When: Tuesday, January 25th, from 12pm – 1pm PST
Where: Zoom Register HERE

Thinking about a career in science writing? Hear from professionals in journalism and communications about various career paths during a virtual panel. The event, hosted by San Diego State University, San Diego Science Writers Association and San Diego Society of Professional Journalists, will include four panelists:

·         Heather Buschman (director of scientific communications and media relations at the Salk Institute)

·         Katy Stegall (SDSU student, inaugural Bradley J. Fikes Scholarship recipient and investigative assistant at KPBS)

·         Jared Whitlock (freelance journalist, MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow)

·         Jonathan Wosen (biotech reporter at the San Diego Union-Tribune)

Moderated by Temple Northup, director and professor at school of journalism and media studies at San Diego State University.

Thanks to everyone who attended our Dec. 7 panel, “Reporting on Health Care During Covid-19 and Beyond,” and to our smart, insightful panelists, Paul Sisson, Lauren Mapp and Jill Castellano, who shared their experiences covering everything from nursing home neglect to end-of-life care to preventable deaths. We recorded the Zoom session so those who couldn’t attend could learn some tips from our panelists.

Even during normal times, the healthcare beat is one of journalism’s most challenging assignments. There’s medical lingo to learn, strict privacy laws to contend with and the high-stakes task of separating truth from misinformation. Join SPJ San Diego for a panel discussion that will delve into current challenges faced by reporters covering healthcare and offer tips for navigating those challenges.

When: Tuesday, Dec. 7 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Who: Union-Tribune healthcare reporter (and our Journalist of the Year) Paul Sisson;

Jill Castellano from inewsource, whose series on COVID-19 deaths won SPJ’s 2021 Distinguished Coverage award; and Lauren Mapp, who’s been doing innovative work on the Union-Tribune’s new caregiver beat. Moderated by freelancer and SPJ San Diego president, Kelly Davis.

Where: Zoom! (While we’re looking forward to in-person events in 2022, for now we’re erring on the side of safety and accessibility.)  

Under California public records laws, an autopsy report is often the only document available to journalists that could shed light on the circumstances surrounding a person’s death. Over the last few years, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department has made it a practice to ask the county medical examiner to seal autopsy reports of people who have died in county jails. 

Last month, the Citizen’s Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), which investigates deaths in county law enforcement custody, asked the sheriff’s department to stop requesting that autopsy reports be sealed unless it’s absolutely necessary to protect the integrity of an investigation. As CLERB Executive Officer Paul Parker wrote in his policy recommendation, “The ‘sealing’ of a case results in the Medical Examiner’s Office not providing information to the next-of-kin and simply referring them to the [San Diego Sheriff’s Department], which limits the information it provides due to its on-going investigation. These unfortunate circumstances result in next-of-kin receiving no answers for several months, at minimum, and sometimes for a year or longer. In addition, information pertaining to in-custody deaths provided to the public is limited when a case is ‘sealed.’” 

On Oct. 29, the SD-SPJ board sent a letter to Sheriff Bill Gore to express our support for CLERB’s policy recommendation and urge him to adopt it for all the reasons mentioned above. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lt. Amber Baggs responded that in April 2021, Undersheriff Kelly Martinez verbally directed the department’s homicide unit to stop requesting that autopsy reports for in-custody deaths be sealed reports.

Baggs said the policy was in the process being finalized, and did not apply to deaths prior to Martinez’s order. The SD-SPJ board urges the sheriff’s department to make Martinez’s direction official policy as soon as possible and also ensure that autopsy reports for deaths that occurred prior to April 2021 have been unsealed. We also urge the department to be as transparent as possible when it comes to deaths that involve law enforcement personnel and seal reports only when absolutely necessary.

Last night, it was fantastic to celebrate local journalists in person! At our awards reception, held as a casual mixer at Stone Brewing – Liberty Station, attendees had plenty of time to catch up.

If you didn’t make it, here is the final list of who won what. And click here to learn more about Paul Sisson, our 2021 journalist of the year. 

If you were not able to attend and would like to grab your 1st place plaque or 2nd or 3rd place certificates, please email us at spjsandiego@gmail.com. Congratulations to all the winners!

Maybe we’re biased, but San Diego has some of the best journalists in the country and we love nothing more than to honor them for their hard work. Click here to view a list of the talented winners of our annual journalism awards — but you’ll have to wait until our awards reception on Sept. 23 to find out who won what!

Please join us at Stone Brewing in Liberty Station for a fun, relaxed gathering. We’ve rented one of Stone’s large outdoor event spaces (Building 12). Tickets are $15 for SPJ members and $20 for nonmembers and include a tasty food spread and dessert. Drink tokens, available on our ticket website, are $5 for craft sodas and $10 for a beer, wine or hard seltzer. 

The evening includes a short program when we’ll announce the winners of our special awards and our Journalist of the Year, Union-Tribune health care reporter Paul Sisson, will give a speech. We’re also putting together a pretty cool silent auction — stay tuned for details.

Congratulations to all our winners! It’s been a difficult year and you deserve to celebrate! 

As in past years, first-place winners will receive a plaque and second and third place winners will receive a certificate. You can pick up your awards at the event.  

When: Thursday, Sept. 23, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Where: Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens @ Liberty Station, 2816 Historic Decatur Road, Unit 116, Building 12

Cost: Presale tickets are $15 per person for SPJ members (join or renew your membership), $20 per person for nonmembers. You can also purchase tickets at the event — $20 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Drink tokens ($5 or $10) are available on the ticket website and at the event. 

IMPORTANT: While this event is outdoors, we ask that anyone who’s been exposed to COVID-19 or thinks they may have been exposed to stay home. This is for the safety of our guests and Stone’s staff. Regarding masks and proof of vaccination, we will follow the county guidelines in place on the day of the event. We certainly encourage anyone who feels more comfortable wearing a mask to do so.

Email us with any questions and we look forward to seeing you!

The San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is proud to announce our 2021 Journalist of the Year, San Diego Union-Tribune health care reporter Paul Sisson. 

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Paul has distinguished himself as the region’s leading COVID-19 reporter, keeping San Diegans informed during an unprecedented, ever-evolving crisis.

Since Jan. 28, when he wrote his first story on the virus, Paul has produced more than 300 articles, from profiles of frontline health care workers to daily case-count and policy updates, sometimes risking his own health to make sure readers had accurate information. He told stories from emergency rooms and ambulances, culled through staggering amounts of data and pressed public officials for critical information.

Paul was often out in front — by months — on many important stories. 

“He was the first reporter given an intimate look inside a COVID ward,” says his editor, Tarcy Connors, “doing so at great risk to himself, as little was known about the virus in the early months.”

In addition to his own reporting, Paul found time to mentor and assist colleagues. He also continued to cover important stories on his beat, like the Scripps Health data breach.

Our chapter gives this award not for one particular story, but for a body of work that made a difference over the past year. Paul’s reporting on the virus, treatment and vaccines kept San Diegans safe and informed and likely saved lives.

We invite you to celebrate Paul and our other award winners at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in Liberty Station on Thursday, Sept. 23, from 6:30 to 9:30. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. (And stay tuned for a full list of winners!)

Recently, SPJ San Diego had to say goodbye to two longtime board members, Tom Jones and Andrew Kleske. But we’re fortunate to have two talented journalists filling their seats. Please join us in welcoming Lynn Walsh and Kristy Totten to the board. You can read a bit more about them below.

Also, please SAVE THE DATE for our 2021 awards event. This year, we’re opting for something casual and outdoors, with lots of space to say hello to friends and colleagues you’ve missed over the last year and a half. The event will be held at Stone Brewing in Liberty Station the evening of Sept. 23. Mark your calendar and stay tuned for more information.

Lynn Walsh

Lynn Walsh is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who has worked in investigative, data and TV journalism for more than 10 years. Currently, she is a freelance journalist and the assistant director for the Trusting News project, where she works to help rebuild trust between journalists and the public by working with newsrooms to be more transparent about how they do their jobs. 

Lynn is also an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University where she teaches journalism and communication classes. She is a past national president and former ethics chair for the Society of Professional Journalists. Previously, Lynn led the NBC7 Investigates and NBC7 Responds teams in San Diego. Prior to working in California, she was a data producer and investigative reporter for the E.W. Scripps National Desk and worked as the investigative producer at WPTV NewsChannel 5 in West Palm Beach, FL. 

Lynn has won state and local awards as well as multiple Emmys for her stories. She loves holding the powerful accountable and spends more time than she would like fighting for access to public information. Lynn is a proud Bobcat alumna having graduated from the Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

Kristy Totten

Kristy Totten is a member of The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board and hosts two U-T podcasts, the San Diego News Fix and Name Drop San Diego. 

Before moving to San Diego in 2019, Kristy covered technology, education, government and the arts for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada Public Radio and Las Vegas Weekly. As a freelancer, she has written about food and culture for NPR, Rolling Stone, Artsy, Thrillist and Vice. 

Kristy is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has a regional Emmy for documentary writing at VegasPBS and shares an AP Radio award for coverage of the Route 91 shooting in Las Vegas. 

As a board member, Kristy looks forward to building community with San Diego journalists, improving representation in local news coverage and encouraging young journalists to get more involved in SPJ and the local journalism community. 

Every year, the San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honors public officials, individuals and agencies who did the best (and the worst) job of ensuring that government is accessible and transparent. 

The Window Award goes to the person or public agency that prioritized transparency and made information accessible. Our Wall Award goes to the person or public agency that made it difficult for journalists to do their jobs by ignoring information requests or otherwise compromising the public’s right to know. And our Sunshine Award goes to a journalist or community member who went above and beyond to make the government more transparent and hold elected officials accountable.

Since we had to cancel last year’s event because of COVID-19, we’ll be honoring both the 2020 and 2021 awardees in a video you can watch here.

Window Award: Dave Rolland, City of San Diego

We’re pleased to give our 2021 Window Award to Dave Rolland, senior communications adviser to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. Rolland had a long career as a journalist before transitioning to government communications roles, first in the state Legislature, then the city of San Diego. While serving as the council communications director for City Council President Georgette Gómez, Rolland started The People’s Business, a blog explaining in plain language items of public interest on the council’s meeting agendas. These agendas can be complicated for the average person to understand, but Rolland made them accessible and provided important context for key issues.

Journalists also find Rolland easy to reach and quick to respond, even when he’s not the right person to answer our questions. His initiative is a great example of a public servant going the extra mile to show a true commitment to open government.

Wall Award: San Diego County

We recognize it’s been a difficult year for the county as it grappled with an unprecedented health crisis, and we commend county staff and elected officials for holding frequent press conferences to update the public on the pandemic. But certain actions have shown that the county still has work to do when it comes to transparency. County officials stopped responding to public records requests, telling journalists that things were “on hold” due to the public health emergency. Yet other counties and government agencies that faced similar challenges amid the pandemic still managed to honor the California Public Records Act.

Equally troubling were efforts by county officials to kill a KPBS story examining leaked data — data that the county had refused to turn over — on COVID-19 outbreak locations. County officials called the story “not responsible journalism.” As you’ll see below, we disagree.

Three years ago, San Diego County received our Wall Award for its lack of transparency surrounding the Hepatitis A crisis. Recently the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to establish a new transparency advisory committee. This is encouraging, and we hope it leads to real change. While we wait, we hope this year’s Wall Award will push the county in the right direction.

Sunshine Award: Claire Trageser, Katy Stegall, Amita Sharma and David Washburn of KPBS

Last December KPBS published a three-part series examining previously undisclosed data on COVID-19 outbreak locations. Claire Trageser was the project’s lead reporter with additional reporting by Katy Stegall and Amita Sharma. David Washburn was the series editor.

Multiple media organizations sued the county to try to get this data. The county argued that making the information public would hamper contact tracing efforts and discourage businesses from reporting COVID-19 outbreaks. The media organizations argued — and SD-SPJ agrees — that the public interest outweighs those concerns.

The KPBS reporting team showed courage in standing up to the county’s efforts to withhold this information from the public, and we are pleased to present them with this year’s Sunshine Award.