Pilot wins statewide newspaper award

The Daily Pilot earned a second-place award for its editorial pages in

the 2001 California Newspaper Publishers Assn. Better Newspaper Contest.

The Pilot won in the 25,001 to 75,000 daily circulation category, the

association announced Saturday.

“The Community Forum pages, whether through our editorials, community

commentaries or letters from the public, are an important part of our

coverage of Newport-Mesa,” Publisher Tom Johnson said. “We think this

award speaks well of our role in the community.”

Editor Tony Dodero pointed to the tough competition as evidence that

the Pilot is consistently producing top-quality journalism.

“We pride ourselves on our paper and what it delivers,” he said. “To

come in second to the Bakersfield Californian, a much larger paper, shows

the kind of journalism we’re capable of.”

The Pilot last won a publisher association award for its 1999 coverage

of the murder of two Costa Mesa children on a playground.

The Pilot’s sister paper, Huntington Beach Independent, which is

published along with the Pilot by Times Community News, won two awards in

the 25,001 and up weekly category. The Independent received second place

for columns, as well as page layout and design.

Along with the Pilot and Independent, Times Community News publishes

four other newspapers: the News-Press, a daily in Glendale; the Inland

Valley Voice; the Burbank Leader, a weekly; and the weekly Laguna Beach

Coastline Pilot.