Three Hollywood Foreign Press Association members were among those honored at the 64th annual Southern California Journalism Awards presented by the Los Angeles Press Club on Saturday, June 25, 2022, taking home a collective five prizes in a diverse and crowded field of entries from notable outlets inclusive of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and all of Hollywood’s major trade publications.

On an evening where Rita Moreno introduced 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker, who was honored with the Joseph M. Quinn Award for Lifetime Achievement, HFPA members Ruben V. Nepales, Adam Tanswell, and Janet R. Nepales were each recognized for their professional achievements. Other special honorees included Guardian Award winner Susan E. Seager, recognized for her first amendment contributions; Daniel Pearl Award winner and Los Angeles Times photographer Marcus Yam, recognized for courage and integrity in journalism; and President’s Award winner and Fox 11 news anchor Christine Devine, recognized for impact on media. HFPA board members Jeff Harris and Tina Jøhnk Christensen also attended the event which took place at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.

“This was an amazing night for the HFPA and for Ruben, Janet and Adam, who won five prizes in total, again demonstrating the quality of journalistic work that continues to be done by our members,” said HFPA President Helen Hoehne. “It’s a credit to them and well deserved, and we are all quite proud of their accomplishments.”

In the Online category for Blog, Individual — Any Single Day, Ruben V. Nepales bested other finalists Donna Balancia, Daniel Guss, Bennet Kelley, and Sharon Waxman, taking home the first-place award for his “Only In Hollywood” column, published by Rappler, the leading news website in the Philippines.

Nepales also notched two other prizes on the evening. He picked up a third-place award in the Entertainment News or Feature category, for his article “Jon M. Chu Scales Greater ‘Heights’ on his New York Set” for Rappler. Additionally, his overall work for Rappler netted Nepales a second-place finish in the Columnist or Critic category.

“I am humbled that a journalist like me, who was born and raised in a small town in the Philippines, can compete and win in a field representing the top guns in entertainment journalism,” said Nepales. “I congratulate my HFPA colleagues, Adam and Janet, and the other winners and finalists for soldiering on and continuing to write, even amid the challenges confronting journalism as a career.”

For his article “The Making of Eternals: ‘An Eternal Flame’” for SFX, Tanswell finished second in the Entertainment News or Feature category. “My piece on the Eternals movie was a broader dive into representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as a peek behind the scenes at the making of the film. I really enjoyed writing it up.”

Meanwhile, in the Foreign Correspondents section, Janet R. Nepales took third place in the Personality Profile category for her special podcast interview, “HFPA In Conversation: Isabel Sandoval, A Trans Female Asian Filmmaker Making It In Hollywood.”

“When I interviewed Isabel Sandoval, she broke barriers and ceilings by being the first transgender woman of color to act and compete in the 2019 Venice Film Festival, with her film Lingua Franca,” said Nepales. “She went back to the Lido in 2021 with her short film Shangri-La, which was commissioned by the Miu Miu Women’s Tales project that asked female directors to examine femininity in the 21st century.

“I was inspired in my podcast interview with this trans Filipina auteur, based in the U.S., who believes that with audacity and tenacity, it is possible to overcome challenges,” Nepales continued. “Isabel’s words still reverberate in my mind: ‘When underrepresented voices and minority artists and storytellers really take the reins and really take control over the stories that we tell about our communities, the art that we make is truly moving, powerful and transcendent.’”

Born and raised in the Philippines, Ruben V. Nepales penned the aforementioned “Only In Hollywood” column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer for 15 years. Since mid-2020, the column has been published online by Rappler.

In 2012, Nepales published his first book, My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood. Last year he released another book, Through a Writer’s Lens, published by Queen-B Multi-Media Productions. Drawing on his experience as a photojournalist, the 260-page coffee-table tome paired more than 1,000 candid photos of stars with interesting anecdotes and trivia about the enormous variety of talent Nepales has interviewed over the course of the last nearly two decades.

In his personal life, Nepales is also married to journalist Janet Susan Rodriguez Nepales, with whom he has two daughters, Bianca Nicole and Rafaella Angelica.

A prolific entertainment correspondent and member of BAFTA LA, Tanswell started his career at the Daily Telegraph in London. Alongside his current editorial position as Hollywood Correspondent for the UK movie magazine Total Film, his prize-winning articles have been published in many British publications, including Radio Times, SFX, Metro, SciFiNow, First News, OK!, and Digital Spy. On television, his filmed interviews have appeared on UK channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, and ITV.

A cum laude alumnus of the University of Santo Tomas’ journalism program, where she edited both the college journal and university-wide newspaper, Janet R. Nepales is the Hollywood correspondent for GMA-7 Network and also pens the weekly column “Hollywood Insider” for GMA-7 Online, one of the most popular news websites in the Philippines.

Previously recognized by the Filipina Women’s Network (FWN) as one of the “100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the World,” Nepales recently published her first limited edition coffee table book, FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World, spotlighting the work of Filipino fashion designers on the red carpet.