Another outstanding awards night for our nominated members in the 61st Southern California Journalism Awards, Foreign Correspondents, category: Entertainment News or Feature, resulting in:

2nd Place: Barbara Gasser, Maxima, “Cultural Revolution – Hollywood after Weinstein”

3rd Place: Adam Tanswell, SciFiNow, “Avengers Set Visit”

The 1st place winner in this category was Hugo Daniel, The Mail on Sunday, ‘Tina turned her back on me’.

The 61st Southern California Journalism Awards was presented by the Los Angeles Press Club and held at the legendary Millennium Biltmore Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. Over 1,700 entries were submitted.

Actor-comedian-director-producer-author Henry Winkler, recipient of the Bill Rosendahl Public Service Award, said, “Now more than ever, the country and world need you (the press) and I am beyond thrilled that you have invited me to be honored.” Winkler was introduced by his “Barry” co-star Bill Hader who described Winkler as the “man everybody loves!”

Legendary sports anchor for CBS 2/KCAL Jim Hill, who received the Joseph M. Quinn Award from Earvin “Magic” Johnson, admitted trying to get out of the award but said he couldn’t “because I saw that my friend Magic will be there to present my award.”

CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir, recipient of the Daniel Pearl Award, remarked, “To be counted among the ranks of the extraordinary journalists honored by the LA Press Club is such a privilege, especially as the Pearl Family continues to be an inspiration to us all. The kind of stories I do involve almost every platform and team at CNN, so this is as much a recognition of them and all the extraordinary local journalists, sources and survivors who take these risks alongside us and choose to trust us to do justice to their stories.”

The creative team behind the Lifetime Network documentary series Surviving R. Kelly received the President’s Award for Impact on Media. The documentary led to R. Kelly being indicted on ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and the #MuteRKelly campaign aimed at stopping his music from being played and streamed.

HFPA members Ruben V. Nepales and Janet R. Nepales were also finalists in the following categories: Foreign Correspondents’ Entertainment News or Feature, Personality Profile and Entertainment News.