2017 Excellence Awards Announced

We’re proud of the recognition our students get from outside entities, from their Student Oscars to Emmy Awards to Online News Association prizes. But every year we convene our own people–J-School teachers and alums–to decide whom they want to single out for outstanding work that exemplifies what the School itself most values. These are the Excellence Awards, given by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism to recognize student journalism that combines professional quality with public importance.

Here are the 2017 winners:

Randy Shilts Memorial Award for Exceptional Reporting
Leah Rosenbaum (’18) – After a horrific blaze, Oakland firefighters confront lasting emotional scars (STAT)
Reis Thebault (’18) – A series of stories that document fraud and corruption in Richmond’s medical marijuana industry:

• Court documents point to ‘pay to play’ scheme between marijuana dispensaries and City Council (Richmond Confidential)
• RPD officer sent ‘sexually suggestive’ messages to head of a dispensary he was regulating, documents show (Richmond Confidential)
• Richmond dispensaries hid possibly millions in sales, profited illegally, DA report finds (Richmond Confidential)

Robert Whittington Award for Exceptional Reporting
Andrew Beale (’18) and Abner Hauge (’18) – San Pablo Avenue fire victims struggle to get help (Oakland North)

Jackeline Luna (’18) and Sofia Melo (’18) – Disrupters, a new media package about candidates from outside the typical French political elite disrupting the 2017 French elections.

Bernard Taper Memorial Award in Longform Journalism
Lauren Hepler (’18) – ‘It’s a perfect storm’: Homeless spike in rural California linked to Silicon Valley (The Guardian)

Jonathan Kaminsky Memorial Award
Paayal Zaveri (’17) – Debt and Dreams, a project on the aftermath of the closure of one of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges, and students left with mountains of debt and difficult choices.

Clay Felker Award for Excellence in Longform Journalism
Isabel Gottlieb (’17) – Notes from the Underground: Censorship, dissidence and literature in Cuba today

Coby McDonald (’17) – Trapped Inside: The fight for the future of deaf language

Wayne F. Miller Award for Excellence in Photojournalism
Brittany Hosea-Small (’17) – In the Reign of Kings, a photojournalism project on Bay Area-based “drag kings.”

North Gate Award for Excellence in Video Reporting and Production
Jennifer Glenfield (’17) – Cortez, a three-part video series on one of the last operating fishing villages in Florida. (Preview Part 1)

North Gate Award for Excellence in Audio Reporting and Production
Teresa Cotsirilos (’17) –The One Who Got Caught, a radio portrait of California wildfire arson investigations.

Jessica Lum Memorial Award for Excellence in Multimedia Reporting and Production
Leslie Cory (’17) – Condition Blue, a portrayal of what it’s like to police and be policed in one of California’s poorest cities with one of the nation’s highest crime rates.

North Gate Award for Excellence in Documentary Production
Maya Craig (’17) – Water Town, a documentary on the battle between the California town of Weed and a web of multinational corporations over who owns the spring water of Mt. Shasta.

Jason Hanasik (’17) – How To Make A Pearl, a documentary short on John Kapellas, a man allergic to the entire spectrum of light, who has lived in complete darkness for 10 years.

Knight Award for Best Piece of Journalism on a Science or Environmental Subject
Maya Craig (’17) – Water Town

Gobind Behari Lal Award for Excellence in Reporting on a Science or Health Related Story
Hanna Miller (’17) – Roots and Wings, a documentary at the intersection of teenage parenthood, poverty, and unemployment, offering a rare window into America’s limited opportunities and how physical, mental, and emotional health are compromised when limited perspectives clash with the American Dream.

Reva and David Logan Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting
Teresa Cotsirilos (’17) – The One Who Got Caught

Susan Rasky Award for Journalistic Excellence in Political Reporting
Manjula Varghese (’17) – Who We Are, an interactive documentary that shares the stories of three Egyptian youth from 2011 to 2017 as they experience the political uprising in their country to the present day.

Alumni and Faculty Judges

Daffodil Altan (’04), Documentary Producer and Reporter, Investigative Reporting Program
Orlando Bagwell, Professor, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Andrew Becker (’05), Reporter, Center for Investigative Reporting / Reveal
Charles “Sandy” Berkowitz (’14), News Associate, CBS News
Lydia Chavez, Professor, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
April Dembosky (’08), Health Reporter, KQED Public Radio
Armand Emamdjomeh (’10), Graphics Reporter, The Washington Post
Deirdre English, Lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Alissa Figueroa (’11), Independent Broadcast/New Media Journalist
Oskar Garcia (’06), Assistant Sports Editor, East Region, Associated Press
Rachel Gotbaum (’94), Independent Producer/Editor
Sean Greene (’14), Digital Editor, The Los Angeles Times
Bridget Huber (’13), Writer and Radio Producer
Jennifer Kho (’03), Managing Editor, HuffPost
Robert Lewis (’08), Reporter, WNYC Radio
Ken Light, Professor, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Andy Mannix (’15), Investigative Reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Megan Molteni (’13), Science Writer, WIRED
Courtney Quirin (’15), Documentary Filmmaker
Jeremy Rue (’07), Assistant Dean and Lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Jeb Sharp (’90), Senior Editor and Correspondent, PRI “The World”
Ian Stewart (’11), Articles Editor, San Francisco Magazine
Terray Sylvester (’15), Freelance Photojournalist
Emily Taguchi (’06), Producer, ABC “Nightline”
Marlena Telvick, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Evan Wagstaff (’12), Digital Editor, The Los Angeles Times
Edward Wasserman, Dean, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism