The Valley Voice earned four awards and two finalist spots at the California News Publishers Association (CNPA) annual conference and awards luncheon held in Sonoma, April 12-14.
Dave Adalian, a writer for the Voice, earned 1st place in the Writing category for his November, 2017 article “Lawsuit Claims TCSO Deputies Ambushed Innocent Man.” The piece won in a category for weekly newspapers with circulation between 11,001-25,000.
“Deputies of the Tulare County Sheriff Department beat a Strathmore man unconscious, denied him medical care, held him overnight, then forced him to walk home, according to a lawsuit filed against those deputies and the Department last month in federal court,” the article’s lede stated.
The Voice earned 2nd place for Online General Excellence for weeklies with a circulation of 11,001 and over. Judges consider a variety of factors in giving the award, including visual appeal, ease of navigation, user interface, quality of writing, loading speed, and overall design.
Tony Maldonado, a writer and the Voice‘s website designer and manager, earned 3rd place in Online Breaking News Coverage for a “Tulare Regional Medical Center Temporary Shutdown” package, in the 11,001-25,000 weekly circulation category.
The package showcased the Voice‘s coverage on Facebook, Facebook Live, and its website as the Tulare Local Healthcare District board deliberated on whether to suspend the hospital’s operations — and reaction when the board voted to do so.
Maldonado and Adalian earned a 3rd place win in Public Service Journalism with a “Tulare Local Healthcare District & management coverage” package in the same weekly circulation category. The package included a cross-section of the paper’s coverage of the Tulare Regional Medical Center, such as coverage of the hospital’s suspension, bankruptcy case, board turmoil, and the hospital’s Medical Executive Committee lawsuit.
“Great use of digital embed technology to make source materials available directly to readers. This was an extravaganza of reporting for hard-core followers of the topic,” the judges’ comments on the submission read.
They also were finalists for In-Depth Reporting with the “Tulare Local Healthcare District & management coverage” package in weeklies 11,001-25,000.
Writer Nancy Vigran was a finalist in Coverage of Business News in the circulation class for her article “Local Cities Looking for New Revenue, Possible Expense Cuts.” The August 2017 article centered around small Tulare County cities’ potential increase in sales taxes, and other options for balancing their budgets.
While the Voice joined CNPA last year, this was the first time the paper entered the statewide competition since resuming publication in 2013.
Other newspapers in the same circulation group of weeklies include the San Francisco Business Times, the Palo Alto Weekly, the Mountain View Voice, the Tracy Press, the Pleasanton Weekly, and the Lamorinda Weekly, and many more.
“I am happy that we can provide quality journalism to our area, and proud that we were finalists in seven categories and awarded in four of them,” Joseph Oldenbourg, the Voice‘s publisher, said.
Other award-winning publications covering the South Valley include The Fresno Bee (dailies 35,001 – 150,000), the Visalia Times-Delta (dailies 15,000 & under), and the Business Journal (weeklies 11,000 & under). Over 3,000 submissions were entered by newspapers across the state; to view the full table of winners, click here.
We rock.
Yes you do! Great work Valley Voice, you do us proud!
You all do rock. Great job and thank you!!
Thank you!
Sincere thanks to you and all of your staff for your coverage of the Tulare hospital situation over this last year. I am so happy that you have been recognized in this way. Congratulations!.
Thank you!
Well deserved honor and long overdue. If it had not been for your willingness to expose the corruption taking place at our hospital to the public, we would be in a far worse place than we are right now. Granted the hospital is still closed and we are down but not out. Because of your efforts and countless other good people we will reopen our Tulare Hospital.
Again Congratulations.
Thank you!