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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Journal Repeats Gold Award Win

For the second straight year, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal has won the gold award as best small-circulation business tabloid in the nation. “Congratulations to our reporters and designers, but also the companies that appear on our pages,” said Editor Joel Russell. “The entrepreneurs and executives in the San Fernando and surrounding valleys provide a continuous stream of prominent business stories for us to write about.” The award was announced June 23 at the annual conference of the trade association called the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. The Business Journal won the same top award last year. This year, judges credited the Business Journal for its graphic design, story selection and use of photographs. “This publication puts care into making sure that people see themselves throughout its pages,” the judges wrote. “There is a good variety of content in its report, from news leads to profiles and commentary — it shows a breadth of coverage that seems comprehensive and clear. There are fun and strong headlines on stories that you don’t see anywhere else.” The judges, who are faculty at the University of Missouri Journalism School, also noted that the content “looks beautiful in its presentation; not only are there faces and plenty of photos of people, but also a good mix of strong single images and multiple photos in packages, which isn’t always common.” The publication also won the gold award for best overall design in the small tabloid category. “Designers manage to create an interesting front page despite the high story count. Generous photo display takes good photos and makes some great. … Fundamentals of typography and white space are consistently strong,” they wrote. Also, Charles Crumpley, the editor and publisher of the Business Journal, won gold in the bylined commentary category for his regular column “One More Thing,” that appears in the final pages of each issue. He submitted three examples. “Crumpley delivers a trio of well-sourced columns that blend opinion and a newsy edge,” the judges said. “His ledes (first sentences) hook the readers, and he later roots his positions with statistics and color collected from field reporting.” Crumpley said that winning the top award for overall excellence was the most gratifying. “Our talented editorial team, led by Joel Russell, works conscientiously to deliver thoughtful and thorough coverage to our readers,” he said. “And we have always suspected that we’re the best in the business. So it’s great to have outside experts confirm our belief.” He went on to say: “We’re really pleased that we’ve won the gold for best newspaper twice in a row. That means last year’s Gold award wasn’t just some one-off thing or a fluke. Now, the onus is on us to win three years in a row.” Locally, Carol Lawrence, a former staff reporter, won a bronze award from the Los Angeles Press Club for “Apartment Killer,” a story about Measure JJJ.

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