Over the weekend, the 2024 California Journalism Awards were handed out in Los Angeles, with the Los Gatan winning second place for an impressive high school football freeze-frame. It’s the newspaper’s first-ever CNPA win. It was nominated last year in a design category.
The photograph by Jonathan Natividad, showing Wildcats player Max Thomas making one of his six receptions in the Wildcats’ 27-7 loss to St. Francis High in the Central Coast Section Division I championship game on Nov. 29, was only bested in Division 6 by an entry from the San Fernando Valley Sun.
The entry was titled “Going Stratopheric.” Award contributors are: Jonathan Natividad, Emanuel Lee, Drew Penner, Haley Tweedell and Dina Kuhar.
The newspaper bested Tracy Press, which came in third for its “THS vs. Franklin baseball” photograph.
Former Los Gatan editor Erik Chalhoub, who now works for Monterey County Weekly, won second place for his business coverage of Amazon, as well as third place for a newsletter he helps produce.
The California News Publishers Association event took place in Studio City at Hilton Universal City and featured professional development sessions, including on AI in the newsroom and newsletter production.
