A continually awarding experience

TONY DODERO

One of the most difficult parts of this job is knowing that this

newspaper is often a stepping stone for good young journalists to go

on to bigger and better things.

Former members of either the Daily Pilot staff or our parent

company Times Community News are scattered throughout the journalism

world in a number of high-profile jobs.

The Orange County Register, the Detroit Free Press, St. Petersburg

Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Fresno Bee, Associated Press,

the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Entertainment Weekly are but a few

of the news organizations that employ former Times Community News or

Daily Pilot staffers.

At least 15 of them that I know of are currently on the staff of

the Los Angeles Times as either reporters, editors or photographers.

And last Thursday night was just an affirmation for me that the

trend was continuing, as we had our second annual awards banquet to

honor the top journalists from our paper and the six other newspapers

that make up the Times Community News Division. Aside from being the

editor of this newspaper, I am also the editorial director of the

community news division, which employs more than 60 reporters,

editors and photographers.

So it gave me a nice sense of pride to see these folks get awards

for their work, almost all of which had been judged by writers and

editors at the Los Angeles Times.

The awards took place down the street at the Times’ Orange County

offices on Sunflower Avenue.

The guest speaker was Marc Duvoisin, an assistant managing editor

at the Times who spoke highly of our news staff and gave a speech on

the importance of community journalism.

Duvoisin also spent his early years covering community journalism

and called it the “most challenging” job he had.

Topping the night was the announcement of the Times Community News

Journalist of the Year award, which went to our very own Danette

Goulet, the city editor of the Pilot and our sister paper the

Huntington Beach Independent.

“I thought I was just doing my job,” said a surprised Goulet as

she accepted the award from Times Community News General Manager and

Pilot Publisher Tom Johnson.

Runners up for Journalist of the Year were Josh Kleinbaum, a city

hall reporter from the News-Press in Glendale and Buck Wargo, a

reporter for another, the Claremont-Upland Voice. Both papers are

part of the Times Community News chain.

Also nominated was the Pilot’s crime and courts reporter Deepa

Bharath, largely for her work on the Hands that Heal series on the

Plasticos Foundation medical team. Bharath and photographer Don Leach

traveled with a team of doctors and nurses from Hoag to Ecuador to

witness them perform surgeries on the poor. Two other Times Community

News reporters, Gary Moskowitz and James Lee were also nominated.

In addition, the banquet featured awards for writers and

photographers who took part in the Times Community News Editorial

Excellence Contest, again judged by Times editors and writers.

Two rounds of contests are held each year. Here are the winners by

rounds:

Round 1

January through June 2003

* Best Writing: Darleene Barrientos, News-Press

* Best Feature Story: Coral Wilson, Huntington Beach Independent

* Best Spot News Story: Darleene Barrientos, News-Press

* Best Enterprise Reporting/Continuing Coverage: Deirdre Newman,

Daily Pilot

* Best Sports Story: Hamlet Nalbandyan, News-Press

* Best Sports Photo: Steve McCrank, Daily Pilot

* Best Spot News Photo: Sean Hiller, Daily Pilot

* Best Feature Photo: Sean Hiller, Daily Pilot

* Best Page Design: Hamlet Nalbandyan, News-Press

* Best Headline Writing: Peter Fuertes, Burbank Leader

Round 2

June through December 2003

* Best Writing: Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press

* Feature Story: Deepa Bharath, Daily Pilot

* Spot News: Jeff Benson, Claremont-Upland Voice

* Enterprise Reporting: Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press

* Sports Story: Mike Sciacca, Huntington Beach Independent

* Sports Photo: Steve McCrank, Daily Pilot

* News Photo: William Vasta, Claremont-Upland Voice

* Feature Photo: Don Leach, Daily Pilot

* Page Design: Hamlet Nalbandyan, News-Press

* Headline Writing, Kimberly Delafuente, News-Press

I’d like to offer my congratulations to all the winners and thank

them for making Times Community News the best community news

operation in the country.