The Bay Area News Group clinched 21 of the state’s most prestigious journalism awards for work published in 2024, including six first-place wins in categories as diverse as the readership of the Mercury News and East Bay Times.

Staff writers and photographers took home top honors for writing, feature photo, housing and land-use reporting, music writing/reporting and print special section cover in the annual California Journalism Awards — including stories about child marriage bans, trauma center closures, Oakland’s strung-out goodbye to the A’s, sky-high rents and little Mexican tigers.

The awards contest is organized by the California News Publishers Association, a nonprofit representing print and digital news publications across the state. BANG was recognized for excellence in reporting, writing, photography, illustration, layout and graphic design, and public service journalism.

Frank Pine, BANG’s executive editor, said he’s grateful for the CNPA’s recognition of the journalism produced by staff at the Mercury News and the East Bay Times — a list that includes 26 individual BANG employees, a third of whom received more than one nod for their work over the past year.

“The journalists in our newsrooms are talented, tenacious and committed to covering our communities and serving our readers,” Pine said. “These honors for reporting, writing and photography are a much-appreciated acknowledgement of the power and impact of their work.”

Julia Prodis Sulek secured first place in the Writing category for a series of stories that revealed abuses within Santa Clara County’s strained child welfare system — reporting that held leaders to account for foster teens living in squalid group homes, a crisis of demoralized staff and the death of baby Phoenix.

Nollyanne Delacruz and Caelyn Pender were awarded first place in the Enterprise News Story category for “My entire childhood was taken from me,” which recounted memories from survivors of child marriage living in the Bay Area, as well as their current lobbying efforts to set the minimum marriage age to 18 in California — one of only four states in the nation that does not have a legal age standard on the books.

“These awards in categories ranging from enterprise reporting to writing to photography show the range of first-rate journalism happening in our newsrooms,” said Senior Editor Sarah Dussault. “Caelyn Pender and Nollyanne Delacruz’s reporting on child marriage is an excellent example of the important work Bay Area journalists are doing day in and day out.”

Dai Sugano won Best Feature Photo of 2024 for his portraits of Paco Rojas nearly a year after a drunk driver travelling 150 mph slammed into his red Toyota on the I-280 overpass — a catastrophic crash that burned over 90% of his body and landed him in Valley Medical Center as one of nearly 4,000 patients seen by the Level 1 trauma center, which has faced an uncertain future that may disproportionally impact poorer neighborhoods in the South Bay.

Paco Rojas smiles as he pets one of his cats, Princess, at his home in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Rojas was hit by a drunk driver last year. His car went up in flames and he stumbled out and fell off the overpass. Since then he’s had 23 surgeries and is expected to walk again later this year despite his poor prognosis. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) 

Kate Talerico received first-place in Housing and Land-Use Reporting for her story about how ever-rising rents continued to break local wallets, despite big tax breaks for investors to turn luxury Bay Area apartments into affordable housing.

Jim Harrington, a music critic for the Bay Area News Group since 1992, was awarded CNPA’s top honor in the Music Writing and Reporting category for his piece on Los Tigres del Norte, a San Jose band that’s sold more than 30 million albums in its more than five decades — bringing together legions of fans on both sides of the border and around the world.

Led by Chris Gotsill, the Bay Area News Group’s print production staff earned first place in the Print Special Section Cover category for its work on the cover of SPACE, the Bay Area News Group’s print “special section” published last January. The winning cover is a striking visual introduction to the dreamy 72-page glossy magazine, which was also awarded fifth place in CNPA’s category for Print Special Section.

The staff were also awarded third place in the Print Special Section Cover category for GLOW — a technicolor celebration of holiday displays, lantern festivals, retro neon signs and all things illuminated.

Jeff Durham was recognized twice in the Illustration category, taking second place for art recreating the harrowing scene on Interstate 880 after a highway robbery-turned-mystery unfolded near Fremont, and fourth place for capturing the fiery emotion and moral quandaries behind criticisms of Silicon Valley’s fast-growing AI sector.

Grace Hase, Julia Sulek and Harriet Rowan won second place in the Coverage of Local Government category for their reporting on the suspenseful District 16 election saga. Their series of stories followed a recount plagued by thumb flubs and other voting errors, a dead-heat tie that triggered a three-way November runoff election, the staggering costs associated with ballot tabulation and legally questionable attempts to halt the counting process altogether.

Jose Fajardo was awarded second place in the News Photo category for his photography from one of the last games the Oakland A’s played at the Coliseum — capturing quiet, bittersweet moments of fans enjoying the game as local leaders scrambled to seal the long-controversial land deal.

The Bay Area News Group won second place in the Photojournalism category for a 20-photo collection that featured natural beauty and emotional vulnerability captured by newsroom photographers Dai Sugano, Jose Carlos Fajardo, Ray Chavez, Karl Mondon, Jane Tyska, Aric Crabb, Shae Hammond and Nhat V. Meyer.

Randy McMullen and Trinity Powells were awarded second place in the Print Inside Page Layout & Design category for their work on the “Weekender” early preview of the year’s best shows, performances and entertainment in the Bay Area.

John Metcalfe won third place in the Arts & Entertainment Coverage category for his story on the “sublime, therapeutic joys of karaoke,” sharing heartfelt testimonies and literal love stories tied to instrumental sing-alongs in places like Mel-O-Dee Cocktails in El Cerrito, 7 Bamboo Lounge in San Jose and Effie’s in Campbell.

Paul Rogers was awarded third place in the Environmental Reporting category. As homeowners near the beach in Half Moon Bay geared up to build sea walls to protect against rising sea levels and increasingly damaging storms, Rogers’ story explained how a tidal wave of legal and environmental hoops culminated in a landmark lawsuit that could reshape California’s coastline.

Pai W, Harriet Rowan and Jeff Durham won fourth place in the Informational Graphic category for a series of colorful, detailed charts that illustrated how California cities spent $37 billion on public employees in 2023.

Ethan Varian won fifth place in the Homelessness Reporting category for a story about 7-year-old Dimmi, one of the 211 homeless children who didn’t have access to shelter in Santa Clara County in 2023.

Ray Chavez was awarded fifth place in the Artistic Photo category for capturing the Aurora Borealis glowing pink near the Altamont Pass wind turbines in Livermore, a rare appearance of the North Lights that captivated spectators hours after midnight.

Chris Gotsill won fifth place for overall layout and design of the front pages of the Mercury News and East Bay Times.

Jovi Dai won fifth place in Public Service Journalism for his data-rich story about Colma — a tiny town in unincorporated San Mateo County where the dead outnumber the living, and the rate of crime outranks any other Bay Area city.