L.A. Times Earns 21 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards

The Los Angeles Times received numerous honors in the Los Angeles Press Club’s 18th annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards competition. The awards, which were presented at a ceremony Dec. 7 in downtown L.A., recognize the finest work from U.S.-based entertainment reporters and editors, as well as theater, film and television critics across all media.

The Times earned a total of 21 awards, including eight first-place, 10 second-place and three third-place honors, across multiple categories. Among the top honorees, senior editor for video Mark E. Potts received first place in the documentary or special program, shorts (TV/video/film) category for the video “How We Printed the Paper” about the closing of the Olympic printing plant. The competition’s judges praised the work, writing, “With an accolade for its past and a lament for the future of journalism, this outstanding documentary tells the history of the printing of the L.A. Times along with compelling interviews with newspapermen and its printing personnel.”

Other first-place honors included: Times theater critic Charles McNulty, who won best obituary/in appreciation, theater and other art personalities for “Appreciation: Playwright Athol Fugard proved the pen could be mightier than the sword”; Times staff writer Kaitlyn Kuamani, whose piece “Alden Ehrenreich’s mission to make L.A. a ‘theater city’ involves a 119-year-old trolley station” received the award for personality profile, theater, culture and other arts (under 2,500 words) category; Times film editor Joshua Rothkopf, who won best film industry feature (over 1,000 words) for “Meet the proud parents of ‘M3GAN,’ Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse, who welcome us to their design shop”; and Times staff writer Meg James, who received first place for TV industry feature (over 1,000 words) for “A small New York town played host to Hollywood. Then something terrible happened.”

Times copy desk manager Blake Hennon earned first place in the headline category for “The Man Behind the Man-Child.” The judges called it “A very strong and succinct grabbing headline that pulls you into the story.”

In addition, The Times received two first-place honors in the critics categories: restaurant critic Bill Addison received the award for best food/culture critic and former art critic Christopher Knight earned first place for art/design/literature critic.

To learn more about the L.A. Press Club’s National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and see the full list of winners, visit lapressclub.org.