Radley Balko Named "Journalist of the Year," Reason Wins Three Other First Place Prizes at the Southern California Journalism Awards

I'm pleased to announce that the Los Angeles Press Club, which rewards journalism committed between San Diego and Santa Barbara, not only named Radley Balko "Journalist of the Year" among publications with circulation under 50,000, it further declared Balko "Best in Show" among the various other Journalists of the Year, a first-ever prize that netted the beloved former Reasonoid a cool $1,000. Here is what the judges said about Radley:

Radley Balko is one of those throw-back journalists that understands the power of groundbreaking reporting and how to make a significant impact through his work. Time and time again, his stories cause readers to stop, think, and most significantly, take action.

Damn skippy. You can read Balko's Reason archive here.

Reason won two other first-place prizes. They were:

* Best Advocacy Journalism, Nick Gillespie, Paul Feine and Drew Carey, for "Reason Saves Cleveland." Citation:

Can a team of journalists and advocates fix a failed city that has lost half its residents? Reason's video series told Cleveland what was wrong with its schools and anti-business policies and how to fix it. The stunned City Council asked them to town to hear more. A strong start to a wildly ambitious activism project.

* Best Entertainment Review/Criticism/Column, Matt Welch, for "Bailing Out Big Brother: Media criticism goes from rebelling against media oligarchs to handing them a lifeline." Citation:

In his piercing critique of two authors who want federal subsidies for news media, Welch calmly dismisses the idea of letting government take on "the care and feeding of its watchdog." Persuasive and intricately researched.

Reason also won four 2nd-place prizes:

* Peter Suderman's "Paul Ryan: Radical or Sellout?", for Magazine Profile
* James M. Dorsey's "Rap and Metal on Planet Islam: The booming voice of pent-up Middle Eastern anger," for Magazine Entertainment News or Feature
* Greg Beato's "From Paris Hilton to John Edwards: Celebrity sex tapes are the signature art form of our age," for Magazine Entertainment Review/Criticism/Column
* Greg Beato's "Copy Fight: A new front opens in the battle over online copyright infringement," for Online Column/Commentary

Honorable Mentions went to Nick Gillespie, for Best News Organization Website; and Peter Suderman's "The Gatekeeper: How a little bureaucratic office became the biggest impediment to Barack Obama's health care plans," for Magazine Feature/Commentary. Full list of Press Club winners here [PDF]; Reason's full slate of nominees here and here. To the best of my knowledge, the four first-place prizes are a Reason Southern California Journalism Awards record.

Did you know you can subscribe to Reason (or gift it to your frenemies) for less than $13 a year? Click here to get that going.