Awards

Reason Nominated for 19 Southern California Journalism Awards

Our nominated stories run the gamut from sanctuary cities to Gary Gygax and curling.

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Bourdain | Van Tine Dennis/ABACA/Newscom
Todd Krainin's obituary for Anthony Bourdain, who passed away in 2018, is a finalist for the Los Angelese Press Club's Southern California Journalism Awards. (Van Tine Dennis/ABACA/Newscom)

With more than 1,700 entries, the Greater Los Angeles Press Club's annual Southern California Journalism Awards broke its own record for submissions this year. While we did not break our own record, Reason did alright. We received a very healthy 19 nominations for work published across our print, web, and TV platforms in the 2018 calendar year.

Here are the pieces that tickled, enraged, and impressed the judges.

Best Humor/Satire Writing: Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg, and Andrew Heaton, "Groundhog Day: 2018"

Best Obituary/In Appreciation: Todd Krainin, "Travel Shows Were Boring as F*ck. Then Came Anthony Bourdain"

Best Medical/Health Reporting: Zach Weissmueller and Mark McDaniel, "Government-Approved Workouts? The Fight Against Fitness Licensing"

Best National Political/Government Reporting: Eric Boehm, "Trade Hearing Highlights Staggering Number of Losers From Trump's Tariff Plan"

Best Educational Reporting: Jim Epstein, "Rich Disabled Kids Get the City to Send Them to Private School. Poor Disabled Kids Get Screwed."

Best Minority/Immigration Reporting: Shikha Dalmia, "Sanctuary Churches Take in Immigrants and Take on Trump"

Best Editorial: Katherine Mangu-Ward, "When Fixing the Problem Makes It Worse"

Best Investigative Reporting (any platform): Jacob Sullum, "America's War on Pain Pills Is Killing Addicts and Leaving Patients in Agony"

Best Columnist: J.D. Tuccille, "Embrace the Dirt Nap"

Best Personality Profile, Politics/Business/Arts: Matt Welch, "Jordan Peterson Is Not the Second Coming"

Best Investigative Reporting (TV): Jim Epstein, "The $15 Minimum Wage Is Turning Hard Workers Into Black Market Lawbreakers"

Best News Feature (over 5 minutes): Zach Weissmueller, "Trump, Ryan, and Walker Want to Seize Wisconsin Homes to Build a Foxconn Plant"

Best Entertainment Personality Profile/Interview (TV): Nick Gillespie, Austin Bragg, and Ian Keyser, "CNN's Jake Tapper on The Hellfire Club, Donald Trump's Big Lies, and D.C.'s 'Bullshit Waterfall'"  

Best Non-Entertainment Personality Profile/Interview (TV): Nick Gillespie, Justin Monticello, and Todd Krainin, "Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, and the Cult of Silicon Valley"

Best Investigative Reporting (print): C.J. Ciaramella, "Chicago Is Trying to Pay Down Its Debt by Impounding Innocent People's Cars"

Best Hard News Feature: Elizabeth Nolan Brown, "The Senate Accused Them of Selling Kids for Sex. The FBI Raided Their Homes. Backpage.com's Founders Speak for the First Time."

Best Soft News Feature: C.J. Ciaramella, "The Radical Freedom of Dungeons & Dragons"

Best Political Commentary, National: Robby Soave, "A Bunch of Senators Just Showed They Have No Idea How Facebook Works. They Want to Regulate It Anyway."

Best Sports Commentary: Eric Boehm, "Curling Is the Closest the Olympics Ever Get to Anarchy"

Folks, you can't ask for a better snapshot of what we do well.

We are grateful to the Los Angeles Press Club for allowing us to mingle with the rest of Southern California's notable media publications, to our story subjects for their willingness to talk about the ways in which our incessantly cruel and dumb ruling class have affected their lives, and to our readers for their continuing support of free minds and free markets. We can't do what we do without you.

We'll let you know the final score after the awards ceremony on June 30 in Los Angeles.