Bay Area News Group journalists won 25 honors in the California News Publishers Association’s 2026 California Journalism Awards, with work recognized across breaking news, enterprise reporting, photography, commentary, illustration, food writing, page design and special sections.
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The winners were announced last week.
Bay Area News Group competed in Division 1, the contest’s category for California’s largest newspapers. The division includes publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle and San Diego Union-Tribune.
The awards covered a wide range of work published in 2025 by The Mercury News and East Bay Times, from coverage of fatal violence and federal immigration enforcement to stories about housing, homelessness, public health, food, local government and life around the Bay Area.
The newsroom won four first-place awards, including two for print design. Assistant Managing Editor Christopher Gotsill won first place in Print Front Page Layout & Design for the front pages of the Jan. 29, Feb. 23 and Sept. 21, 2025, editions. Designer Judith Sanfield and Features Editor Lisa Hix won first place in Print Inside Page Layout & Design for “Experience Omakase,” a feature that visited four Bay Area restaurants to examine the cost and experience of high-end sushi.
Bay Area News Group also won first place in a premium section celebrating the Bay Area pastime and spotlighting the 2025 baseball season, by Deputy Sports Editor Laurence Miedema and Burrell. Gotsill, along with designers Matthieu Forichon, Jui Ishida and Chris Smith, won first place in Print Special Section Cover for covers of “Blueprints,” “Heritage” and “Kickoff” special sections.
Assistant Managing Editor Steve Palopoli and Weekender Editor Randy McMullen won second place in a premium edition showcasing notable Bay Area architecture, adding to the newsroom’s awards for special print presentation.
Breaking news coverage brought two awards. Reporters Shomik Mukherjee, Jakob Rodgers, Harry Harris and Joseph Dycus won second place for coverage of the November 2025 shooting and death of John Beam, the longtime Oakland football coach featured in Netflix’s “Last Chance U.” Beam was a central figure in Oakland football for decades, coaching generations of young athletes at Skyline High School and Laney College. The coverage followed the shooting at Laney, the arrest of a suspect and Beam’s death.
Rodgers, Mukherjee and reporter Sierra Lopez won fifth place in Breaking News for coverage of October 2025 protests over a planned Bay Area immigration enforcement deployment, including a shooting near Coast Guard Island and the cancellation of the federal operation.
Several awards recognized accountability and explanatory reporting. Rodgers, Mukherjee and reporters Nathan Gartrell and Katie Lauer won third place in Enterprise News Story or Series for coverage of Contra Costa County connections to an FBI political investigation. The series began with an FBI raid at the Concord home of Mary Jo Rossi, a longtime Contra Costa political consultant with ties to local elected officials, police groups, developers and political campaigns. It followed the questions raised by that raid and later traced connections to a federal bribery case involving DeNova Homes executives accused of trying to pay an Antioch councilmember for favorable action on a housing project. The reporting examined the political figures, law enforcement interests and development issues surrounding the investigation.
Reporter Robert Salonga won fourth place in In-Depth Reporting for “A closer look: What’s behind San Jose’s extraordinarily high homicide clearance rate?” The story examined San Jose’s reported 100% homicide clearance rate and explained what that figure does and does not show about public safety, policing and criminal prosecutions.
Reporter Caelyn Pender won fifth place in Coverage of Local Government for “‘As serious as a heart attack,’” a story about a Los Gatos man disputing a county-initiated conservatorship, a legal process that can give others authority over major personal, medical and financial decisions.
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Housing and homelessness coverage also drew recognition. Reporter Grant Stringer won fourth place in Homelessness Reporting for coverage of Oakland’s California Hotel, a housing site for formerly homeless residents a historic housing site for formerly homeless residents facing financial and management turmoil. Reporter Julia Prodis Sulek won third place in Homelessness Reporting for coverage of San Jose’s efforts to address homelessness, including encampment residents digging a fire line as flames approached and the city’s push to move people from Columbus Park into hotel housing. The stories showed the immediate dangers facing unhoused residents and the difficulty of turning temporary shelter into a longer-term solution.
Stringer also won fifth place in Housing and Land-Use Reporting for a story on Bay Area eviction cases five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He won fourth place in Health Reporting for a story about an Oakland nonprofit analyzing drugs for users during an era of deadly street drugs.
Paul Rogers won third place in Transportation Reporting for a story about the July 2025 Lake Tahoe boating tragedy that killed eight people and drew attention to boating safety in California. The story reported that the victims had completed a safety course, while also examining state requirements and the large share of California boaters who had not.
Feature and food stories earned several honors. Reporter Kate Bradshaw won fourth place in Feature Story for “Foulin’ on the dock of the bay,” a story about nonnative marine life along Bay Area docks. Reporter John Metcalfe won second place in Food Writing/Reporting for “The Bay Area culinary club that’s eating its way through history,” about a group that explores history through meals.
Opinion Editor Max Taves won fifth place in Columns for pieces examining the Trump administration’s pressure on higher education and Silicon Valley, including demands that chipmakers share equity or profits with the government. He also won fourth place in Editorial Comment for an editorial criticizing federal immigration raids and urging local leaders to oppose the administration’s tactics.
Daniel Borenstein, current editor-at-large and former opinion editor, won fifth place in Editorial Comment for an editorial on Oakland’s Measure A, a parcel tax proposal he argued would duplicate existing taxes and add to what was already among California’s highest local tax burdens.
Bay Area News Group’s visual journalists were recognized in photography and illustration categories. Jose Fajardo won third place in News Photo for an image capturing a large plume of smoke rising over the East Bay after a fire broke out at a Martinez refinery. Shae Hammond won fourth place in Feature Photo for “Cow Heaven,” a photo of a life coach and preacher resting on a cow in a story about a Milpitas cattle refuge. Ray Chavez won fifth place in Artistic Photo for a photograph of paragliding pilots launching from Mussel Rock Park in Daly City.
The newsroom also won third place in Photojournalism for a portfolio by visual journalists Aric Crabb, Jane Tyska, Chavez, Jose Fajardo, Dai Sugano and Hammond. Graphic designer and illustrator Jeff Durham won third place in Illustration for “A Plague of Political Violence.”
Together, the awards reflected a year of work aimed at explaining the Bay Area’s biggest issues, chronicling its communities and holding public institutions to account.
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