The Los Angeles Press Club has announced finalists for its 51st annual Southern California Journalism Awards competition. Reason, headquartered in Southern California for nearly four decades, is up for the following:

* Journalist of the Year, for publications under 100,000 circulation: Matt Welch. Competition includes friend o' Reason Amy Alkon.
* Best News/Investigative Story, magazine: Radley Balko, for "Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How police harassment, jailhouse snitches, and a runaway war on drugs imprisoned an innocent family." Balko's up against Playboy and People magazines, among others.
* Best Feature/Commentary piece, magazine: Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, for "The Libertarian Moment: Despite all leading indicators to the contrary, America is poised to enter a new age of freedom." Up against Fortune and Bloomberg News, among others.
* Best Entertainment Review/Criticism/Column, magazine: Tim Cavanaugh, for "When Free Love Died: Why the sexual revolution plays only in reruns." Up against...nobody, least not that I can see. Congratulations, Tim!
* Best Designed piece, magazine: Terry Colon et al, for the already-award-winning "What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand?" Again, there are no other mentioned finalists, so hi-fives for Terry, Mike Flynn, Shikha Dalmia, and Reason designer Barb Burch.
* Best Online News Story, Feature, Series or Package: David Weigel and Julian Sanchez, for "Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters?" Up against four (count 'em!) pieces from Truthdig.
* Best Online Column/Commentary/Criticism: Drew Carey et al, for "Food Fight: Battle of the Bacon Dogs." Up against more Truthdiggery, plus some Herald-Examiner nostalgia from Rip Rense.

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