Three members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – Barbara Gasser, Janet Nepales and Ruben Nepales – won prizes in the 57th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards. The Los Angeles Press Club received a record number of close to a thousand entries, making this year’s contest the most competitive in recent memory. The honors were presented on June 28, 2015 in a gala event at the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Barbara got two prizes in the personality profile (international) category. She placed second for “Julianne Moore – An Unusual Normal Woman” for the magazine BesserWiener. Barbara’s article on Ms. Moore also netted her a second place win in entertainment news or feature (international).
In the columnist (international) category, Ruben was awarded second prize for “Stephen King: Why Master of Horror Novels Doesn’t Scare Us” for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Janet scored third honors in the same category for “Robin Williams – ‘Just Dance On My Grave’ ” for the Manila Bulletin. In the news (international) field, Ruben garnered third prize for his report on the personal and professional struggles of Courtney Love, also for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In a night of standing ovations for special honorees, one of the most applauded was journalist Antonio Fischetti who received the Daniel Pearl Award for courage and integrity in journalism on behalf of Charlie Hebdo, the French weekly satirical magazine. Antonio was attending a funeral when nine of his colleagues were shot and killed in a terrorist attack of the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris on January 7, 2015. In another attack in 2011, the publication’s office was firebombed.
Judea Pearl, the father of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel after whom the award was named, presented the honors to Antonio. Daniel’s kidnapping and slaying in Pakistan in 2002 was depicted in Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart. Daniel was portrayed by Dan Futterman while his wife Mariane Pearl was essayed by Angelina Jolie, who earned a 2008 Golden Globe best actress-drama nomination for her performance.
CBS This Morning, anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell, took the President’s Award for impact on media. New anchors Pat Harvey and Christine Devine gave the award to the trio who accepted via video. Also accepting his Public Service Award via video was VICE News’ Shane Smith. Los Angeles Press Club president Robert Kovacik and NBC 4’s Colleen Williams gave the award to Shane for the news show’s contributions to civic life.
Wallis Annenberg, board chairman, president and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, presented the Joseph M. Quinn Award for lifetime achievement to Willow Bay. The
honoree, the director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism,
has a distinguished career with stints in various TV outlets from CNN, NBC, ABC to Bloomberg TV.
Other winners included journalists of the year in various fields: The Hollywood Reporter’s Lacey Rose (entertainment); Los Angeles Times’ Allen J. Schaben (photojournalism); Daily Breeze’s Frank Suraci, who oversaw a series of articles that won a Pulitzer prize (print-over 50,000 circulation), The Sun’s Beau Yarbrough (print-under 50,000 circulation), KCRW’s Saul Gonzalez (radio) and Long Beach Post’s Brian Addison (online). Among the presenters of the various honors were Cher Calvin, Kevin de Leon, Elisabeth Espinosa, Carolina Sarassa and Brian Watt.
Founded in 1913, the Los Angeles Press Club is one the oldest and most prestigious journalist associations in the United States. The event was dedicated to outstanding journalists who passed away recently: Al Martinez (Los Angeles Times), Stan Chambers (KTLA) and Rick Orlov (Daily News).
Ruben Nepales