California Journalism Awards honor students and alums

The California News Publishers Association honored dozens of Berkeley Journalism students and alums with their 2025 California Journalism Awards, presented at a ceremony on May 17 in Los Angeles.

Katey Rusch (’20) and Casey Smith (’20) and the Investigative Reporting Program won two awards: First Place in Division 1 Excellence in Collaborations and Partnerships and Third Place in Division 1 Investigative Reporting category for “Right to Remain Secret,” published in the San Francisco Chronicle.

From top left: Alana Minkler (’26), Tanay Gokhale (’23), Holly McDede (’25), Kelsey Oliver (’25), Gisselle Medina (’24), Simmerdeep Kaur (’24), Kathleen Quinn (’24), Casey Smith (’20) and Katey Rusch (’20).

Alana Minkler (’26) won three awards in the Division 2 category for her work at the Press Democrat: First Place for Illustration for “County in Crisis: Sonoma County’s staffing crisis”; Second Place in Youth and Education Reporting for “As more North Bay students become homeless, schools struggle to address their needs,” and Fourth Place for Breaking News for “Deadly weekend on Sonoma Coast as two sport crab boats capsize in rough waters.”

Holly McDede (’25) won Third Place in Investigative Reporting in Division 7 for “Benicia teacher charged with sexual acts with student was previously arrested in Napa,” in the Vallejo Sun.

Kelsey Oliver (’25) won Third Place in the Division 3 Health Reporting category for “Patients witnessed ‘erratic’ behavior’ from SLO doctor — one said he was sexually assaulted,” in the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Kathleen Quinn (’24) won First Place in the Division 3 Homelessness Reporting category for “Charges against homeless spike before Supreme Court case,” published in The Modesto Bee.

Gisselle Medina (’24) won two awards, one in the Division 7 Community Focus category for “‘We need more places like this in Fresno.’ LGBTQ+ groups fight discrimination as second Trump term looms,” published in Fresnoland, and Third Place for Religion and Faith Writing for “How the 2×2 sect silenced Central Valley sexual abuse survivors and their fight for justice across the globe.”

Simmerdeep Kaur (’24) won two awards: Second Place in the Division 7 Enterprise News Story or Series category for “North America’s first hydrogen-powered garbage truck debuts in Redwood Shores: cleaner, but costly,” and Third Place in the Best Podcast category for “Redwood City Election Watch 2024” in the Redwood City Pulse.

Tanay Gokhale (’23) won Fifth Place in the Division 7 Public Service Journalism category for “Election 2024: Desis on the Ballot,” in India Currents.

From top left: Williamena Kwapo (’23), Julietta Bisharyan (’23), B. Sakura Cannestra (’23), Susie Neilson (’19), Xueer Lu (’23), Junyao Yang (’23), Tarini Mehta (’24), Harriet Rowan (’16) and Semantha Norris (’23).

Tarini Mehta (’24) won Fourth Place in the Division 2 Community Focus category for Coverage of Youth and Education for “‘Looking for people to care’: Defunded by Napa school district in 2020, Legacy Youth Project returns to ‘seek justice,’” in The Press Democrat.

Semantha Norris (’23) won four awards: Second Place in the Division 6 Photo Story/Essay category for “Think Blue”; Third Place in the Division 6 Fine Arts Writing/Reporting category for “Mural Honoring the Late Fernando Valenzuela Unveiled in Boyle Heights”; Fifth Place in the In-Depth Reporting category for “The Right-Wing Agenda Reveals Itself in the San Fernando Valley”; and Fourth Place in the Labor Reporting category for “Silicosis Rampant in Northeast San Fernando Valley Series.” All of the stories were for the San Fernando Valley Sun.

Williamena Kwapo (’23) won First Place in the Division 4 Profile Story category for “Bunmi Awoniyi, Sacramento’s First Black Presiding Judge,” in The Sacramento Observer.

B. Sakura Cannestra (’23) won First Place in the Division 6 Local Coverage of Election 2024 category for “Follow the Money, Election Guide and on-the-record with candidates” in the San Jose Spotlight.

Julietta Bisharyan (’23) won two awards: First Place in the Division 3 Labor Reporting category for “Employees allege union busting and unsafe work conditions at Modesto plant” and Second Place in the Division 3 Investigative Reporting reporting category for “Data show police use-of-force and stops persistently target Black and Hispanic individuals,” for The Modesto Bee.

Junyao Yang (’23) and Xueer Lu (’23) won two awards: First Place in the Division 5 Informational Graphic category for “Understanding San Francisco’s election,” and with H.R. Smith (’07), Fourth Place in the Division 5 Local Coverage of Election 2024 category for “See How They Run,” for Mission Local.

Susie Neilson (’19) won three awards: Second Place in the Division 1 In-Depth Reporting category for “Tony Robbins was reeling from backlash. Then came an unlikely ally: Stanford,” Fourth Place in the Investigative Reporting category for “It’s been called junk science as accurate as a Ouija board. Why are police agencies using this tool?” and Fourth Place in the Public Service Journalism category for “Fast and Fatal.” All of the stories ran in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Harriet Rowan (’16) won two awards: Second Place in the Division 1 Coverage of Local Government category for “Series on District 16 saga” and Fourth Place in the Informational Graphic category for “City-worker costs have skyrocketed,” in The Mercury News/East Bay Times.

From top left: Becca Andrews (’15), Sean Greene (’14), Betty Marquez Rosales (‘20), Brittany Schell (’13), Angela Hart (‘14), Emilie Raguso (’06), Anita Chabria (’00), Karen D’Souza (‘95) and Robin Urevich (’09).

Becca Andrews (’15) contributed to the Capital & Main package that won Third Place in the Division 5 Labor Reporting category for “Unionizing Planned Parenthood.”

Sean Greene (’14) won two awards: First Place in the Division 1 Investigative Reporting category and Forth Place in the Public Service Journalism category for “Dirty Weed,” and Second Place for “Pets for Profit,” both published in The Los Angeles Times.

Angela Hart (‘14) won Second Place in the Division 4 Homelessness Reporting category for “Accounting for California’s Homelessness Epidemic,” for California Healthline / KFF Health News.

Brittany Schell (’13) won Second Place in the Division 1 Innovative Technology Award category for “The Kamala Harris News Assistant: Connecting Readers to 30 Years of SF Chronicle Reporting” in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Robin Urevich (’09) won First Place in the Division 5 Investigative Reporting category for “In Los Angeles, Your Chic Vacation Rental May Be a Rent-Controlled Apartment,” for Capital & Main.

Emilie Raguso (’06) won three awards: First Place in the Division 7 Enterprise News Story or Series category for “Some of the stories behind Berkeley traffic fatalities — and the lives nearly lost”; Fifth Place in the Writing category for “Alyx Herrmann fought for her life. Her bite mark may have helped catch her killer” in the Berkeley Scanner; and Third Place for Best Newsletter for “The Berkeley Scanner: TBS Today daily newsletter.”

Anita Chabria (’00) won Third Place in the Division 1 In-Depth Reporting category for “False Confessions,” in the Los Angeles Times.

Karen D’Souza (‘95) won three awards: Second Place in the Division 3 Fine Arts Writing/Reporting category for “Fine arts in California schools”; Third Place in the Music Writing/Reporting category for “Music and education,” and along with Betty Marquez Rosales (‘20), First Place for best Podcast for “Education Beat,” in EdSource.