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Pleasanton Weekly wins awards in state competition
Paper honored for investigative reporting, environmental coverage by California publishers

by Jeb Bing

The Pleasanton Weekly has been recognized by the California Newspaper Publishers Association for articles on a wide range of topics in 2011.

The Weekly won second place in the CNPA's prestigious Best Writing competition for a story written by reporter Glenn Wohltmann, "Guilty! Three years later, tragic tale of greed and murder ends with son's conviction." Dennis Miller was also honored in the Best Sports story category for his story, "Softball star learns sports lessons while

recovering."

The newspaper also received three Certificates of Achievement for two other stories, also written by Wohltmann: "Raising money, one door at a time," and "Family shrinks its carbon footprint," in the Coverage of Environment category.

Managing Editor Dolores Ciardelli was honored with a Certificate of Achievement in the Lifestyle Coverage category for her Lifestyle sections on Aug. 26 and Oct. 14, 2011.

These Certificate of Achievement awards are given to the top 10% of entries in the CNPA Better Newspapers Contest that advanced to the final Blue Ribbon judging competition.

The "Better Newspaper Contest" awards are based on circulation categories for daily and weekly publications. The Pleasanton Weekly competes with other California weekly newspapers in the 11,001-25,000 circulation category.

The Weekly's sister papers on the Peninsula and in Marin County also took home honors.

The Palo Alto Weekly, which competes in a higher circulation category, took home a record 11 first- and second-place awards, including best website. Its website, www.PaloAltoOnline.com, placed first for the third year in a row, having won in 2009 and 2010 as well. Its news staff garnered seven first-place awards, including for coverage of the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, competing against other large non-daily papers in California.

The Pleasanton Weekly's other sister papers -- the Almanac in south San Mateo County and the Mountain View Voice -- picked up another three awards between them. The Pacific Sun received two second-place awards.

Founded in 1979 by Publisher Bill Johnson, the Palo Alto Weekly and the other weekly newspapers and web sites that followed, including Express editions, serve communities on the Peninsula, East Bay and in Marin County.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association is a nonprofit trade association for more than 800 publications. Founded in 1888, it represents daily and weekly newspapers and news websites throughout California.