The Hollywood Reporter's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Wins Best Columnist, THR Takes Other Top Honors at SoCal Journalism Awards

The awards, handed out annually by the Los Angeles Press Club, saw THR win in several categories, including best film criticism, best blog (group), best entertainment news and best news feature, film.

The Hollywood Reporter's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was named best columnist at the 62nd Southern California Journalism Awards, which were announced Saturday via a virtual presentation.

This marks Abdul-Jabbar's fifth straight year winning the award.

KTLA's Cher Calvin and ABC7's George Pennacchio hosted the digital gala and announced the winners of the awards, which are handed out annually by the Los Angeles Press Club.

THR also took top honors in several other categories, including best film criticism (Jon Frosch), best blog (group) for THR, ESQ (Eriq Gardner and Ashley Cullins), best entertainment news (Chris Gardner and Seth Abramovitch), best news feature, film (Borys Kit), best commentary/analysis of TV film (Pete Keeley), best non-political commentary (Shannon O'Connor), best personality profile for the Awards Chatter podcast (Scott Feinberg), best design (Peter Cury and Kelsey Stefanson) and best animation/moving graphic (Jennifer Laski, Peter Cury, Miller Mobley, Stephanie Fischette and Victor Klaus).

The Press Club said there were 1,670 total submissions this year, only 30 fewer than 2019 despite the pandemic.

A full list of THR's wins follows.

JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

PRINT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR: Over 50,000 Circulation
Gary Baum (second place)

ALL MEDIA PLATFORMS: Print, Radio, TV or Online

HUMOR/SATIRE WRITING
Joel Stein, "Breakup Letter to My Agent" (third place)

TECHNOLOGY REPORTING
Natalie Jarvey, "Spotify the Storyteller" (second place)

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS OF TV/FILM: Based on up to 4 samples.
Pete Keeley, "Big Little Lions: Disney's New 'Lion King' Dodges the 'Kimba' Similarity Issue" (first place)

CRITICISM OF TV
Daniel Fienberg (third place)

CRITICISM OF FILM
Jon Frosch (first place)

CRIME REPORTING
Gary Baum, "The Perfect Obsession" (second place)

ARTS/PHOTOGRAPHY: All platforms

PHOTO ESSAY: (Single Topic) Culture/Entertainment
Jennifer Laski, Peter Cury, Michelle Stark and Alexandra Gavillet, "Comedy Actress Roundtable" (second place)

ILLUSTRATION
Kelsey Stefanson and Chris Buzelli, "Baby Yoda" (second place)

ANIMATION/MOVING GRAPHIC
Jennifer Laski, Peter Cury, Miller Mobley, Stephanie Fischette and Victor Klaus, "Actor Roundtable Cover" (first place)

COVER ART
Peter B. Cury and Alexandra Gavillet, "Trevor Noah/Comedy Issue" (second place)

PAGE DESIGN: Demonstrating outstanding art direction and layout, graphics.
Kelsey Stefanson and Chris Buzelli, "Baby Yoda" (second place)

MAGAZINES: Includes magazines with L.A. bureaus.

INVESTIGATIVE: Reporting by an individual or team.
Patrick Brzeski and Scott Johnson, "Fire in the House of Dreams" (second place)

COMMENTARY: On political, social, cultural, investigative, judicial, economic or other serious subjects, including editorials.
Kim Masters, "Has Me Too Gone Too Far?" (third place)

COLUMNIST: One person's point of view on any subject.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (first place)

FEATURE: Culture/Arts, Over 1,000 Words
Gary Baum, "The Tiger and the Tragic Trick" (third place)

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS or FEATURE: Coverage of any entertainment subject by a person or a team.
Rebecca Keegan, "In Baby Yoda, Hollywood Sees Its Past, Present and Meme-able Future" (second place)

PERSONALITY PROFILE, Film/TV Personalities
Seth Abramovitch, "Samuel L. Jackson: Mr. Box Office" (third place)

PERSONALITY PROFILE, Politics/Business/Arts Personalities
Tatiana Siegel, "How to Give Away $420 Million: Cheryl and Haim Saban on Hollywood Philanthropy, Israel and 2020 Politics" (third place)

DESIGN: A publication or special issue from a single day, demonstrating outstanding art direction, layout and/or graphics.
Peter Cury and Kelsey Stefanson, "New York Issue" (first place)

RADIO: Broadcast, podcast or steam produced in Southern California

PERSONALITY PROFILE/INTERVIEW: Over 20 Minutes
Scott Feinberg, "'Awards Chatter' Podcast— George Clooney ('Catch 22')" (first place)

ONLINE: Originally published on the internet.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: Film
Chris Gardner and Seth Abramovitch, "Jordan Peele on Making Movies After 'Us': 'I Don't See Myself Casting a White Dude As the Lead'" (first place)

NEWS FEATURE: Film
Borys Kit, "Meet the Writer of 'Gemini Man' (Who Didn't Actually Write 'Gemini Man')" (first place)
Aaron Couch, "'He Had Death on His Face': Kubrick, 'Full Metal Jacket' and an Actor's Heartbreak" (second place)

NEWS FEATURE: Music/Theater
Chris Gardner, "Inside Tom's One-Hour Photo in L.A.'s Koreatown" (second place)

NEWS FEATURE: General News
Patrick Shanley, "'Sextortion' Via 'Fortnite': How Video Games Can Open Doors for Predators" (second place)

NON-POLITICAL COMMENTARY: One person's point of view.
Shannon O'Connor,  "How 'Orange Is the New Black' Helped Me Realize I Was Gay" (first place)
M.G. Lord,  "Captain Marvel Has Been Battling Misogyny Way Before the Current Trolls" (third place)

BLOG, GROUP: Best collective or institutional blog
Eriq Gardner and Ashley Cullins,  THR, ESQ (first place)
Overseen by Aaron Couch and Borys Kit, Heat Vision (third place)

WEBSITE, TRADITIONAL NEWS ORGANIZATION: Website of a print or broadcast outlet.
Matthew Belloni and Tom Seeley, THR.com (third place)

SOCIAL MEDIA: Judged on content, creativity and engagement

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENHANCE and/or COVER A STORY, by a group: Maximum two days coverage of an individual story.
Shannon O'Connor and Erica Myers, "Comic-Con 2019" (third place)

A full list of winners can be found here.