From top left: Erin Stone (’19), Katie Licari (’22), Semantha Raquel Norris (’22), Andrew Lopez (’23), Jill Replogle (’10), Susan Leibowitz (’87), Sean Greene (’14), Robin Urevich (’09), Abené Clayton (’19) and Steve Fisher (’14).
Ten UC Berkeley Journalism alums and four California Local News Reporting fellows have been honored in the Los Angeles Press Club’s 68th Southern California Journalism Awards for the best reporting from or about Southern California across print, broadcast and digital media in 2025.
Their reporting stood out among a record-setting 2,700 submissions.
“Being a journalist has never been easy,” said Danny Bakewell, Jr., the president of the Los Angeles Press Club, “but today, amid divisive circumstances, the proliferation of fake news and unprecedented political pressure, the job is harder than ever. In spite of this, we have dedicated professionals who report the news with facts, truth and honesty. We celebrate those individuals who stand on the front lines to tell stories that impact the lives of people in Los Angeles and around the world.”
Semantha Raquel Norris (Courtesy LA Press Club)
Semantha Raquel Norris (’22), a California Local News Fellow at UC Berkeley, won the Investigative Series for Newspapers Under 50,000 category for “Silicosis Series” for The San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol Newspaper.
Judges’ comments: “Great project looking at the hidden toll of a simple household convenience.”
Abené Clayton (’19), the lead reporter covering community gun violence in California for The Guardian, won the Race And Society Reporting category for “The revolutionary prison program where men help each other put down their guns: ‘Don’t end up like me,’” part of “Guns & Lies in America” launched in 2019. The series focuses on America’s gun violence crisis “which is driven not by high-profile mass shootings but by everyday gun deaths in Black and brown communities and the programs in California that have successfully contributed to preventing violence and the people who work to address the trauma that comes with shootings.”
Judges’ comments: “The field was tight, but this reporter was able to get access to inmates in prison to discuss a topic that’s largely hidden to society at large. It’s amazing to see quotes from prison inmates.”
Clayton is the co-director of the Association of Gun Violence Reporters, a new national community of practice for journalists advancing public health-informed, trauma-aware and community-centered gun violence reporting. She started covering gun violence in her hometown of Richmond, California.
Abené Clayton (Courtesy LA Press Club)
Climate and environment reporter Erin Stone (’19) won the Public Service News or Feature category for “911 calls during the Eaton Fire,” for LAist.
Judges’ comments: “This excellent reporting tells the story of one family’s tragic loss in the devastating LA fires with compassion and craft. But more than that, it asks how it happened that emergency services failed to evacuate a father and son who were unable to leave their burning home due to disability. Stone also took a broader view of the emergency system for people with special needs, asking activists and the family what needs to change to prevent this from happening again.”
Listen to an interview between Stone and alum Jill Replogle (’10), guest host of LAist’s “Imperfect Paradise” podcast, recorded seven months after the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires. They discuss Stone’s reporting and how emergency planning continues to leave behind people with disabilities in Los Angeles.
Robin Urevich (’09), a senior reporter at Capital & Main who focuses on housing issues won the Public Service News or Feature category for “Locked Out: How Some of Los Angeles’ Biggest Landlords Leave Section 8 Tenants Behind.” The investigation also won Second Place in the Investigative/Government Related category and Third Place in the Local Politics/Government Reporting category. She was also a finalist for the prestigious Journalist of the Year award in the Online Journalist Tied to a Publication category. She won the award in 2022 for her in-depth coverage of California’s affordable housing crisis.
Judges’ comments: “The out and out rejection of one of the nation’s best ways to help families lift themselves out of poverty is reprehensible. Hopefully this reporting will lead to serious sanctions against the offenders.”
Susan Leibowitz (’87), the West Coast supervising producer for Dateline NBC, along with Chetna Joshi, Ann Preisman, Robert Higgins and Sergei Ivonin, won the Crime Reporting category for “Sean Combs: The Insiders Speak.” Leibowitz has been with the network for more than 30 years, producing and supervising long-form stories, breaking news features, and prime-time documentaries.
Judges’ comments: “Dateline NBC’s special report on the Sean Combs case is a well-produced and complete package, offering important context and background, strong interviews, and the latest breaking developments.”
Jill Replogle (’10) won the Medical Reporting/Healthcare Issues category for “At a Boyle Heights hospital, ICE agents call the shots, doctors say,” for LAist.
Judges’ comments: “A chilling look at how the federal immigration crackdown is bringing agents into clinical spaces at a hospital, with what doctors say is the permission of hospital leaders.”
Listen to an interview with Replogle about her reporting:
Katie Licari (’22) won Second Place in the Multimedia Package category for “Shaken dry: LADWP’s failure to plan and repair for the ‘Big One’,” for AfroLA.
Andrew Lopez (‘23) won Second Place in the Hard News category, along with colleagues Alejandra Molina, Jessica Perez and Laura Anaya-Morga for “Toddler among 6 people taken as immigration agents raid Cypress Park Home Depot,” for The LA Local/Boyle Heights Beat. He reported at the Boyle Heights Beat from 2023 to 2025 through the California Local News Fellowship based at UC Berkeley Journalism.
Sean Greene (’14), an assistant data and graphics editor at the Los Angeles Times, was a finalist in the Science Reporting category for his visualizations accompanying “Humanity is rapidly depleting water and much of the world is getting drier,” by Ian James.
Steve Fisher (’14) was a finalist in the Crime Reporting category for “Cartels seized a Mexican gold mine. He was hired to win it back,” for the Los Angeles Times along with colleagues Daniel Flesher, Karen Foshay, Felix Marquez and Koral Carballo.
California Local News Fellows Winners
A number of journalists from the UC Berkeley Journalism-based California Local News Fellowship, a program that just received renewed funding from California lawmakers, were also recognized with Southern California Journalism Awards.
Capital & Main reporter Jeremy Lindenfeld won the prestigious Journalist of the Year award in the Online Journalist Tied to a Publication category for impactful reporting that explores how national policy decisions ripple through the lives of ordinary people.
Judges’ comments: “Earning three LA Press Club awards this year, with two of them about immigration and ICE, Lindenfeld earns this top nod for his work with an organization.”
Jeremy Lindenfeld
Lindenfeld also won a First Place award for his ICE-related immigration reporting in “‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like it.’ Aggressive ICE Raids Led One Man to Ask: Should I Self-Deport?”.
Judges’ comments: “This story details the agonizing choice made by Juan Ramón González to self-deport back to Mexico rather than risk being seized in a violent arrest and shipped off to prison. His dread of being targeted in an immigration raid led to his heartbreaking decision to leave the Pasadena community where he had lived for decades.”
Smoke drifts over Will Rogers State Beach and the Pacific Ocean during the Palisades fire. Photo: Jeremy Lindenfeld/Capital & Main.
Lindenfeld also won Third Place in the Faith/Spiritual Reporting category for “Trump’s War on ICE-Fearing Catholics.” The story looks at how a president with strong Christian support is driving an aggressive crackdown on immigrants who are disproportionately Catholic and how it is playing out in the pews. Lindenfeld was also a finalist in the Medical Reporting, Healthcare Issues category for “A Mother’s Battle to Protect Her Son’s Care;” the National Politics/Government Reporting category for “Forest Service Cuts Leave Firefighters Mowing Lawns While Morale Craters” and the News Photo category for “Smoke drifts over Will Rogers State Beach during the Palisades fire.”
Susana Canales Barrón
Immigration reporter Susana Canales Barrón, won the Best Use Of Social Media To Enhance and/or Cover a Story by an Independent Journalist category for “Infant left momentarily parentless after immigration raid near a WIC store in Oxnard,” for CALÓ News.
Michelle Zacarias
Michelle Zacarias was a finalist in the Investigative, Crime Related category for the investigation “‘It was for their entertainment’: Formerly incarcerated youths speak out about abuse at LA County juvenile hall,” for Prism.
By Marlena Telvick
