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The 2025 California Journalism Awards was one for the books for our Tri-Valley editorial team as we won a record 10 first-place awards for our coverage last year, including General Excellence for the first time in our history.
The winning categories capture the quality, range and impact of our journalism: General Excellence, Investigative Reporting, Enterprise Series, Best Newsletter, Columns, Editorial Comment, Business and the Economy, Sports Feature, Profile Story and Fine Arts.
Our 22 awards overall was also the biggest haul the Pleasanton Weekly has ever earned in the annual contest organized by the California News Publishers Association, which revealed the final winners this week.
I knew we had a standout year in 2025, but these results are even more remarkable than I could ever imagine. Congrats to our Embarcadero Media Foundation, East Bay Division journalism squad of editor Cierra Bailey and reporters Jeanita Lyman, Jude Strzemp and Christian Trujano, along with special shoutouts to our publisher Gina Channell Wilcox, freelance contributors, design team, sales reps, and corporate leadership and support staff.
What jumps out at me looking over our award winners is how well they demonstrate our commitment to coverage of your community that would not have seen the light of day without us.
Take our exposé on the Pleasanton Unified School District investigation that led to Amador Valley High School principal Jonathan Fey being put on leave never to return, a cover story that resulted from our 13-month battle for public records into incidents from 2024.
For the article, “‘For sure I need this to stay a secret’: Inside the grooming, Grindr investigation of a Pleasanton principal”, Trujano won the award for Investigative Reporting and earned second place for Coverage of Youth and Education.
The Amador exposé was the cover story in our Nov. 7 print edition that was part of our submission for the General Excellence category – another victory for our team.
I took first place in Editorial Comment for my editorial explaining the depths of our investigation and the lawsuit that attempted to stop us from getting the public records we were entitled to.
The Fey matter was also highlighted in one of the three examples of our Local Scoop member-exclusive newsletter en route to winning Best Newsletter, and the Nov. 7 cover design by Doug Young was part of the package that got him second place for Print Front Page Layout & Design.
The other high point in our CNPA awards was the performance of our Tri-Valley Downtown Series, which won Enterprise News Story or Series and Coverage of Business and the Economy.
Our reporters Strzemp, Lyman and Trujano took the idea I dreamed up and ran with it so impressively. The eight-part series saw our journalists use all five senses to report on the commercial and community cores of Livermore, Pleasanton, Blackhawk, San Ramon, Sunol, Alamo, Dublin and Danville through interviews, research and photographs.
The Downtown Series was a bit of a bold play on our part – can you imagine giving “Livermore” or “Danville” a showcase on the cover of the “Pleasanton” Weekly?! – but it paid off immensely for our readers. As importantly, it married beautifully the coverage our small division does across the Tri-Valley for the Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
I’m so happy that Wilcox captured first place for Columns for her pair of “Around the Valley” pieces on watching city government behavior in Pleasanton and San Ramon – even if it meant my boss beat me, with my “What A Week” entry finishing third.
It was a banner year for our lifestyles coverage too. Bailey won Profile Story for “Love and longevity”, I won Fine Arts Writing / Reporting for “The Firehouse lineup” and our sports contributor Dennis Miller won Sports Feature Story for his cover story on Foothill swimmer Luka Mijatovic, “A generational talent”.
I love that two of our other freelancers joined Miller in earning a California Journalism Award for their contributions to our coverage: Chuck Deckert got second place for Sports Action Photo for his cover picture of Mijatovic and Deborah Grossman took third for Food Writing / Reporting for her story on food at the 2025 Alameda County Fair. (Her feature on 2026 fair food just happens to be this week’s cover story.)
On top of our 10 first-place awards, we had seven runner-up honors – 17 top-two finishes is incredible.
In addition to those already mentioned, we earned second place for Investigative Reporting (my article on the Emerald High School principal resignation), Labor Reporting (teamwork on the whistleblower lawsuit against the city of Pleasanton), Immigration Reporting (Strzemp’s series on the deportation of Livermore’s Miguel Lopez) and Excellence in Collaborations & Partnerships (for our Alameda County Opioid Project through our “Junior Journalists” partnership with Tha Town).
My exposé on Francis Rojas’ surprise resignation from Emerald is another pointed example of a story that would not have been told without the Pleasanton Weekly. Dublin has no hometown news source so parents and other stakeholders came to us to seek answers. After reviewing public records, talking to key sources and finally getting Rojas to go on the record, I was able to report one of the biggest stories in the Tri-Valley: “‘A snap move’: The story behind Emerald High principal’s shocking resignation”.
Rounding out our recognitions were third place in Inside Print Page Layout & Design (“County fair closing weekend” for Young), fifth place in Inside Print Page Layout & Design (“Pleasanton Weekly’s 25th Anniversary Celebration” for designer Mary Watanabe) and fifth place in Feature Story for Strzemp’s piece on Livermore Library’s ASL series.
Housekeeping note: Most of our awards were judged against peers with similar circulations in Division 6, although some categories with limited submissions were consolidated across divisions (like Excellence in Collaborations & Partnerships, with only three awards total statewide).
I also encourage you to look at the California Journalism Awards for our sister publications in our Embarcadero Media Foundation Peninsula Division: Redwood City Pulse, Mountain View Voice, The Almanac and the flagship Palo Alto Weekly. Our colleagues across the Bay are amazing.
Just an all-time year for our humble little weekly newspaper here in Pleasanton. I’m so proud of the hard work of our editorial and design teams, and I’m so grateful for the support of our members, our donors, our advertisers and our readers that allows us to practice our journalism.
The 2025 CNPA awards show what can be accomplished when a community backs local journalism – and what would be lost in the Tri-Valley without that support. Learn more at embarcaderomediafoundation.org or pleasantonweekly.com/donate.
Pleasanton Weekly’s 2025 California Journalism Awards
First Place
General Excellence – Team (Oct. 31, Nov. 7 print editions)
Investigative Reporting – ‘For sure I need this to stay a secret’: Inside the grooming, Grindr investigation of a Pleasanton principal – Christian Trujano. (Submission also included “Very bizarre behavior” follow-up story and editorial on CPRA saga)
Enterprise News Story or Series – Tri-Valley Downtown Series (Livermore, Pleasanton, Blackhawk, San Ramon, Sunol, Alamo, Dublin, Danville) – Jude Strzemp, Jeanita Lyman, Christian Trujano
Coverage of Business and the Economy – Tri-Valley Downtown Series (Livermore, Pleasanton, Blackhawk, San Ramon, Sunol, Alamo, Dublin, Danville) – Jude Strzemp, Jeanita Lyman, Christian Trujano
Profile Story – Love and longevity – Cierra Bailey
Columns – Around the Valley: Watching city behavior (San Ramon appointment leaves questions, concerns and Pleasanton has a trust problem) – Gina Channell Wilcox
Editorial Comment – Our yearlong fight for public records on Amador principal ouster finally pays off – Jeremy Walsh
Best Newsletter – Local Scoop – Jeremy Walsh and Carla Kong
Fine Arts Writing/Reporting – The Firehouse lineup – Jeremy Walsh
Sports Feature Story – ‘A generational talent’: Foothill sophomore Luka Mijatovic focusing on the little things as he captures the attention of the swimming world – Dennis Miller
Second Place
Sports Action Photo – Star swimmer Luka Mijatovic – Chuck Deckert
Print Front Page Layout & Design – March 21, July 25, Nov. 7 – Doug Young
Labor Reporting – City prevails in whistleblower lawsuit (Story 1, Story 2, Story 3) – Gina Channell Wilcox, Christian Trujano, Jeremy Walsh
Investigative Reporting – ‘A snap move’: The story behind Emerald High principal’s shocking resignation – Jeremy Walsh
Immigration Reporting – Miguel Lopez deportation series (Story 1, Story 2, Story 3) – Jude Strzemp
Excellence in Collaborations & Partnerships – Alameda County Opioid Project – Gina Channell Wilcox
Coverage of Youth and Education – ‘For sure I need this to stay a secret’: Inside the grooming, Grindr investigation of a Pleasanton principal – Christian Trujano
Third Place
Columns – What A Week: Gut-checks for Pleasanton institutions (The downtown I saw and Put the supe back on) – Jeremy Walsh
Food Writing/Reporting – Fair food beyond soda and hot dogs – Deborah Grossman
Inside Print Page Layout & Design – County fair closing weekend – Doug Young
Fifth Place
Feature Story – ‘We are empowering. We are uplifting.’ Inside Livermore Library’s ASL series aimed at cultivating community – Jude Strzemp
Inside Print Page Layout & Design – Pleasanton Weekly’s 25th Anniversary Celebration – Mary Watanabe
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What A Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
