The Express won nine awards for journalism excellence, including six first-place honors, in the 37th Annual Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards. The Express won the most awards overall and the most first place honors by any Bay Area weekly news publication. The awards were announced over the weekend by the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club.
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Express contributors Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham won first place in the continuing coverage category for their series of investigative reports on Oakland’s controversial surveillance center, also known as the Domain Awareness Center, or the DAC. The series included the December 18, 2013 feature story “The Real Purpose of Oakland’s Surveillance Center.” BondGraham also won a third-place honor in the business/technology story category for his June 26, 2013 report, “Public Research for Private Gain,” which revealed that the UC Board of Regents had created a private entity to control how publicly funded research is used.
Co-editor Robert Gammon and contributor Joaquin Palomino won first place in the best series category for their two-part report, “Tunnel Vision: Delta in Peril and Rivers in Peril.” The in-depth stories focused on Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two massive water tunnels underneath the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Gammon also won a first place award in the news column category for his weekly column Seven Days.
Contributor Rebecca Ruiz won first place for best feature story of a serious nature for her December 11, 2013 report, “Life, Death, and PTSD in Oakland,” which explored how violence and poverty have traumatized the city’s youth.
Contributor Vanessa Rancaño won first place in the specialty story category for her August 21, 2013 feature, “Waste: The Dark Side of the New Coffee Craze.” Her report examined how single-cup coffee brewing is producing massive amounts of trash.
Contributor Mark C. Anderson won first place for best sports story for his April 3, 2013 feature, “Real Warriors,” which explored the renewed success of the Golden State Warriors basketball team.
Former Express staffer Azeen Ghorayshi won a second place award in the best news story category for her feature, “Warning: Quake in 60 Seconds,” which focused on technology that would enable California to implement an early-warning system for earthquakes.
And former Express staffer Brian Kelly won a second place award in the best page design category for his July 24, 2013 cover illustration, “False Witness.”
All of the Express’ awards were in the non-daily print division for stories published in 2013.
