The Hollywood Reporter was awarded with the top website at the 63rd Southern California Journalism Awards on Saturday evening, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was honored with best columnist for the sixth straight year.
Held inside the Crystal Ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel — where guests were required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend — the gala event handed out awards from the Los Angeles Press Club.
Reporters were recognized in multiple disciplines from investigative journalism to film criticism, crime reporting, arts and culture, news and online features, photography and more.
THR, which was nominated for 37 awards this year, nabbed recognitions in 21 categories, including personality profile; where Seth Abramovitch and Lacey Rose placed for their respective print magazine stories on Pee-Wee Herman (and actor Paul Reubens) and Shonda Rhimes. In the online section, Scott Feinberg was recognized with a win for his piece on Sunset Blvd.’s Nancy Olson.
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Ashley Cullins and Eriq Gardner’s “THR, Esq.” won best group blog followed by Aaron Couch and Borys Kit’s “Heat Vision” in second place. Scott Feinberg’s “The Race” won third place in the individual blog category.
In the area of non-political commentary, Gardner’s “Dear Johnny Depp, Fire Your Lawyers” won first place. Meanwhile in the investigative arena, Lesley Goldberg and Kim Masters took first place for their story, “NBC Insiders Say Entertainment Boss Fostered Toxic Culture, Under Investigation.”
Critic Daniel Fienberg won several awards, including first place for both “Critic’s Notebook: The Pleasures of Peak Jewish TV” and “‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ ‘Lovecraft Country,’ ‘Hunters.’”
These wins follow another recent recognition for THR; a Daytime Emmy nomination last July for its series, Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter.
Honorees at the SoCal Journalism Awards this year included ABC7’s news anchor Marc Brown, journalist Bari Weiss, CNN medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta, KPCC and LAist reporter Josie Huang, and Sean Penn and Ann Lee, for their non-profit organization Core.
A full list of THR’s wins follows below.
WEBSITE, TRADITIONAL NEWS ORGANIZATION
The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter staff (first place)
ALL MEDIA PLATFORMS Print, Radio, TV or Online.
COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS OF TV/FILM
Daniel Fienberg, “Critic’s Notebook: The Pleasures of Peak Jewish TV” (first place)
CRITICISM OF TV
Daniel Fienberg, “‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ ‘Lovecraft Country,’ ‘Hunters’”(first place)
CRITICISM OF FILM
Sheri Linden, “‘Gunda,’ ‘Critic’s Notebook: Why ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ Is So Rare Among American Abortion Dramas,’ ‘Critic’s Notebook: Criterion’s ‘Complete Films of Agnès Varda’ Offers a Welcome Chance to Explore the Visions of a Tireless Searcher’” (third place)
CRITICISM OF THEATER/PERFORMING ARTS
David Rooney, “‘Critic’s Notebook: The Bittersweet Rewards of Socially Distanced Theater,’ ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Hamlet’” (first place)
ART/PHOTOGRAPHY All Platforms
PHOTO ESSAY (single topic)
Jennifer Laski and Joe Pugliese, “Hollywood on Lockdown – 30 Feet Away Portfolio” (third place)
COVER ART
Peter Cury and Krzysztof Domaradzki, “The Implosion” (first place)
MAGAZINES, Including magazines with L.A. bureaus
INVESTIGATIVE
Lesley Goldberg and Kim Masters, “NBC Insiders Say Entertainment Boss Fostered Toxic Culture, Under Investigation” (first place)
Gary Baum, “Meet the Controversial Doctor Behind the Dr. Phil Empire” (second place)
Tatiana Siegel and Kim Masters, “Steven Mnuchin’s Former Firm Surfaces in Charlotte Kirk Filing” (third place)
COLUMNIST
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, “’Kobe Bryant, Gayle King and Why Black Words Matter’, ‘Where Is the Outrage Over Anti-Semitism in Sports and Hollywood?’, ‘Why ‘Gone With the Wind’ Needs a Warning Label, Not a Ban’” (first place)
FEATURE, under 1,000 words
Katie Kilkenny, “‘Egregious’ TV Errors Fuel Native and Indigenous Groups’ Calls for Better Representation” (third place)
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Film/TV Personalities
Seth Abramovitch, “Pee-wee Herman’s “Dark” Reboot: Paul Reubens Is Ready to Stage a Comeback” (third place)
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Politics/Business/Arts Personalities
Lacey Rose, “Shonda Rhimes Is Ready to ‘Own Her S***’: The Game-Changing Showrunner on Leaving ABC, ‘Culture Shock’ at Netflix and Overcoming Her Fears” (second place)
RADIO/PODCAST, Broadcast, podcast or stream produced in Southern California.
ANCHOR/HOST
Scott Feinberg, “Awards Chatter” (third place)
ONLINE, Originally published on the Internet.
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Film/TV personalities
Scott Feinberg, “‘Sunset Blvd.’ Turns 70: Nancy Olson on Wilder Holden and Why She Walked Away From Stardom” (first place)
NON-POLITICAL COMMENTARY. One person’s point of view.
Eriq Gardner, “Dear Johnny Depp, Fire Your Lawyers” (first place)
ENTERTAINMENT COMMENTARY on TV/Film
Richard Newby, “Protest Backlash and the Failings of a Superhero Culture” (second place)
BLOG, INDIVIDUAL
Scott Feinberg, “The Race” (third place)
BLOG, GROUP
Ashley Cullins and Eriq Gardner, “THR, Esq.” (first place)
Aaron Couch and Borys Kit, “Heat Vision” (second place)
JOURNALISTS OF THE YEAR
ONLINE JOURNALIST
Eriq Gardner (third place)
