The Los Angeles Business Journal was named as the country’s best local weekly business newspaper by the Alliance of Area Business Publications.
The alliance, a professional organization of local business newspapers and magazines, gave the Business Journal three other awards at a dinner ceremony last week in Minneapolis. Earlier in June, the Business Journal won seven awards from the Los Angeles Press Club.
At the alliance’s banquet, the Business Journal won a gold medal for large tabloids, the top award given for general excellence. The Business Journal also won a gold medal in that category in 2004 and 2005 and a bronze medal in 2007.
The judges said of the Business Journal: “This is a publication that never disappointed. It had great features throughout that kept judges turning the pages. Readers must certainly feel like they’re plugged in and part of the community when they read this paper. Reporters prove they’re on top of the news and don’t miss a beat.”
In addition, the alliance gave Richard Clough a silver award in the “Best Explanatory Journalism” category for “IndyMac’s Last Gasps,” an insiders’ account of the fall of the huge Pasadena thrift.
The judges said: “Narrative and rich detail help make this a great behind-the-scenes look at the failure of the giant thrift. The writer dug deep into the story by examining documents regarding the collapse and talking to former employees willing to talk about IndyMac’s former management.”
Earlier this year, Clough’s story won the award for enterprise reporting for weekly publications from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, which is a professional organization composed of business news sections of daily newspapers as well as national and local business news publications.
Other awards from the alliance:
– Daniel Miller won a bronze award in the “Best Investigative Story” category for his saga in December about the financial troubles of local businessman Ezri Namvar. Judges said: “The Business Journal devoted resources to what might have otherwise been a scandal that escaped scrutiny, then told the story clearly.”
– The staff was given a bronze medal for “Best Headlines.” The judges said that headlines such as ” ‘Buzz Killed’ and ‘Solar Flexes’ are great examples of headline writing with punch punch that adds meaning rather than distracting from it.”
At the Los Angeles Press Club presentation, the Business Journal won two first-place and several other awards in the section for newspapers with less than 100,000 in circulation.
Reporter Joel Russell won first place in the hard news category for his article “Univision Battle With Televisa Places Programs in Jeopardy.” Russell broke the story in March 2008 about how Univision Communications’ disagreement with its main provider of programs had gotten serious and was headed to court.
The judges said: “This is a strong, hard news story that not only breaks some important news for readers, but also is written well.”
Clough also won first place in the business category for his IndyMac story.
The judges said: “Richard Clough not only explains what happened to IndyMac, he does so with compelling storytelling skills, crafting a hard-earned narrative of the decline and fall of a local institution set against the looming crisis nationwide.”
Also in the L.A. Press Club awards:
– Miller took second place in the investigative/series category for his article about Namvar’s troubles.
– Steve Silkin, the deputy managing editor, won second place for headline writing.
– David Nusbaum, the newspaper’s research director and sports business columnist, won second place in the sports category for his story last July about the controversy about Speedo’s advanced swimsuit.
– Calvin Naito, who contributed an op-ed headlined “Los Angeles Times Ripe for Some Advice on Reaching Local Readers” that he submitted personally to the contest, won second place in the commentary category.
Also, the staff of the Business Journal won an Honorable Mention award in a different section of the contest called Business and Financial Coverage/Print. The award was for the newspaper’s package of articles last fall about the financial turmoil headlined “Market Meltdown.”
