Independent, sister papers fare well in news contest

The Huntington Beach Independent’s front page photograph of Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a crowd on Main Street earned one of several

awards gathered by the Independent and its sister papers at the 2003

Better Newspapers Contest luncheon Saturday at the Queen Mary.

Sean Dufrene’s photograph of the terminator-turned-governor

campaigning in town won second place in the spot-news photo category

for weeklies with a circulation of 25,001 and above.

The Independent also placed second in the front page and page

layout and design categories.

Nine judges appraised the best work from newspapers all over the

state. Winning entries were announced Saturday at the luncheon.

The Independent’s sister papers -- part of a family of five

published by Times Community News, a division of the Los Angeles

Times -- also fared well.

The Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot won first place for page layout

and design in the category for weeklies with 11,001 to 25,000 circulation. It took second place in general excellence for papers of

the same size.

The Daily Pilot won first place for Sean Hiller’s March 2

photograph of California Highway Patrol officers reaching over the

railing of the Costa Mesa Freeway interchange, trying to prevent a

suicidal Tustin man from falling onto the San Diego Freeway. It was

voted best in the spot-news photo category for daily newspapers in

California with circulations of 25,001 to 75,000.

“This is a credit to the staffs of these papers,” said Thomas H.

Johnson, the publisher for the Daily Pilot, the Independent and the

Coastline Pilot. “They are the ones who are really doing the work.

They are the ones who really deserve the credit.”

The Burbank Leader, a twice-weekly paper in the family, won first-

and second-place awards for local spot news for weeklies with

circulation of 11,001 to 25,000. It also earned a second-place honor

for page layout and design.

The News-Press, the company’s daily Glendale paper, received a

second-place award for the category of columns, commentary and

criticism for dailies with circulations of 25,001 to 75,000.

“I’m proud of the work our staff does,” said Tony Dodero, editor

for the trio of Orange County papers and Times Community News

editorial director. “This is just validation of the fact that we

produce some of the best community news in the state.”

News-Press and Leader publisher Will Fleet emceed the event.