The Orange County Press Club held its annual awards dinner at the Balboa Bay Resort last night, and as the Mexican himself would say, we slaughtered the Special Olympics. Once again, we dominated the awards portion of the evening — as well as the wine consumption.
This infernal rag took home a whopping 15 awards, far outpacing runner-up the Daily Pilot, with its haul of 8. . . . Unless you lump the rebranded Churm magazines (5) in with The Orange County Register's total (7). (We don't.)
To the score board . . .
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Among the eight first-place finishers were R. Scott Moxley (for “Prince Edward Maryland Is Sorry,” Best News Story, Print; and “Meet Jane Doe,” Best Newspaper Feature Story, Print), Gustavo Arellano (for “Is Aaron Kushner the Pied Piper of Print,” Best Business Story, Print), Matt Coker (for “The Lost Boys of Summer,” Best Sports Story, Print), Nate Jackson (for “The Ballad of Wade Michael Page,” Best Music or Entertainment Story, Print), Edwin Goei (for “The Riders Club Cafe Goes Back to Business,” Best Food Story, Print), Stacy Davies (for “On Princesses and Perversions,” Best Arts or Culture Story, Print), and Dave Lieberman and Bill Esparza (for Tijuana Sí! in Stick a Fork In It, Best Food Blog).
Taking home second-place honors for the Weekly were Michelle Woo (for “When a Mentally Ill Child Becomes a Mentally Ill Adult,” Best Public Affairs or Education Story, Print) and Coker (for “Anaheim's Political Circus,” Best News Story, Print; and “Behind the Orange Curtain and the OC OD Tsunami,” Best Music or Entertainment Story, Print).
Woo also won third-place certificates for “Kaba Modern Created a Dance Dance Revolution” (Best Arts or Culture Story, Print), “Jason Quinn Will Meet You at the Playground” (Best Food Story, Print) and her Trendzilla column (Best Columnist).
Web editor Taylor Hamby was also recognized for her “Record Store Day: Only Good for a Few Stores?” (Best Music or Entertainment Story, Print, Honorable Mention).
Among the notable winners last night were Mona Shadia's former column in the Daily Pilot, Unveiled: A Muslim Girl In OC, and the Voice of OC's series on housing insecurity.
And now to dry up from all that vino . . . until next year!
Patrice Marsters started at OC Weekly as an intern, just before the first issue was published. She is now the associate editor of the paper, serves on the board of the Orange County Press Club, and mentors aspiring writers and editors at Newport Harbor High School. In her spare time, Ms. Marsters co-leads a multi-level Girl Scout troop, creates baked goods, and rants at inanimate objects (including her computer) about her grammatical and writing pet peeves.