The SPJ San Diego Pro Chapter is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 SPJ San Diego Area Journalism Awards Contest and to honor the 2015 San Diego Journalist of the Year.

Here’s the list of first place, second place and honorable mention awards.

We can’t wait to celebrate with you! But you’ll have to wait until the banquet to find out who won what! Here are the details:

When: Wednesday, July 29, 2015. Reception at 5:30 p.m., program starts at 7 p.m.
Where: The Bali Hai’s Hawaiian Village bayside patio, 2230 Shelter Island Dr, San Diego, CA 92106.
Cost: $40 per person, $320 for reserved tables of eight.
Registration: Please register and pay here.

The event usually sells out, so don’t delay. Register and purchase your tickets today!

Longtime news personalities Hal Clement and Jody Hammond will emcee the program and help us recognize San Diego’s best in journalism.

That includes the 2015 San Diego Journalist of the Year: Jeff McDonald, a staff writer at The San Diego Union-Tribune.

We honor McDonald for covering a story so complex and bureaucratic that many journalists wouldn’t even know where to start: how state regulators handled the shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. McDonald thought a $4.7 billion settlement to pay for the shutdown seemed “somewhat lopsided” since customers would foot 70 percent of the cost, so he began asking questions. He discovered the deal was hatched in secret at a luxury hotel in Poland. His reporting prompted state politicians and California’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates, one of the parties to the agreement, to criticize and take a closer look at it. McDonald will give the keynote speech at the awards banquet. Please join us in congratulating him.

Our contest is sponsored in part by BetterBNC, an online contest entry and judging platform created by SmallTownPapers in Washington. Learn more about this great company at smalltownpapers.com.

It’s going to be a great night! Hope to see you there!