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KCET Wins 11 Southern California Journalism Awards Presented by L.A. Press Club

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KCET won 11 First Place Awards at the 62nd annual Southern California Journalism Awards presented by the Los Angeles Press Club on Saturday, August 29. This is the third consecutive year that KCET has won more honors than any other Los Angeles broadcaster after receiving 54 nominations in 33 categories earlier this year which tallied more nominations than any other local broadcast organization.

Of KCET’s 11 original productions in the qualifying year, six were honored with first place awards. KCET also received second place honors in nine categories and third place honors in 15 categories for a variety of programs.

Awards were allocated to multiple winners from a variety of KCET’s on-air and online original programming content. The debut season of KCET’s new food activism/social justice series "Broken Bread," co-produced by Tastemade, hosted by James Beard Award winning Chef Roy Choi took home top honors in the category of Televison/Film Broadcast Anchor/Host. Also honored on Saturday night were multi-media arts and culture series "Artbound," environmental series "Earth Focus" produced in partnership with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Southern California aerospace miniseries "Blue Sky Metropolis" from filmmaker Peter Jones and the original documentary "Nightshift" co-produced by Artifact Nonfiction winning for best feature documentary (over 25 minutes). Additionally, acclaimed news documentary series "SoCal Connected" garnered multiple first place honors during the virtual ceremony.

“We are so thrilled to once again be the most honored broadcast organization in our region by the Los Angeles Press Club,” said Juan Devis, Chief Creative Officer of KCET. “We strive to create quality programming that is informative, educational and inspiring as we attempt to represent the diversity of the region. I am humbled to work with such a devoted team of producers and creative collaborators both inside and outside of our organization.”

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. The 2020 Southern California Journalism Awards were presented on Saturday, August 29 via a virtual ceremony due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The full list of the 62nd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards first place wins for KCET are listed as follows.

ANCHOR / HOST

Broken Bread - Primary
Host and Chef Roy Choi in "Broken Bread" key art.

VIDEOGRAPHER

Members of Los Angeles County Fire personnel along PCH at Paradise Cove, early morning of November 10.
Still from "SoCal Connected: The New Normal." | Karen Foshay

ILLUSTRATION

Blue Sky Metropolis timeline part 1 cover | Henry Cram
Illustration by Henry Cram

PHOTO ESSAY – (Single Topic) News/News Feature

Searles Valley welcome sign. | Osceola Refetoff
Searles Valley welcome sign. | Osceola Refetoff

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY, Over 25 Minutes

Vincent works at the future L.A. Rams Stadium | Still from "Nightshift"
Still from "Nightshift."

  • Artifact Nonfiction and Juan Devis, Justin Cram, "Nightshift"

SPORTS

  • Karen Foshay, Michael Ray and Helki Frantzen, SoCal Connected – “Born to Run

ACTIVISM JOURNALISM – Broadcast

Community members celebrate "Hood Day" eating turkey tacos at Locol. | Still from "Broken Bread"
Still from "Broken Bread: Watts"

  • KCET, Tastemade and Roy Choi, Broken Bread – “Watts

HUMAN INTEREST FEATURE, Over 5 Minutes

Two people hugging at memorial with photo of deceased next to them | Still from SoCal Connected, "Who Killed Josiah?", Courtesy Mark McKenna
Still from "SoCal Connected: Who Killed Josiah?" | Courtesy Mark McKenna

  • Karen Foshay, Vince Beiser, Andy Viner and Dennis Nishi, SoCal Connected – “Who Killed Josiah?” 

LIFESTYLE FEATURE

Food from "Making the Best of It" Pop-up | Still from "Broken Bread" Future
Still from "Broken Bread: Future."

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS OR FEATURE

INVESTIGATIVE – Reports showing enterprise, initiative, research. Single report or a series.

  • Ben Bergman, Michael Bloecher and Tori Edgar, SoCal Connected – “Access Denied
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