It's that time of year when various national and regional groups recognize the work done by our journalists and designers.  I like to pass those notices along as a reminder of the high quality work being done around the country.  I hope you will join me in congratulating our finalists and winners.

Here's the note I received recently from Scott Graham, Editor-in-Chief of The Recorder in San Francisico:

"Everyone, I have some good news to share from the California Newspaper Publishers Association's Better Newspapers Contest. We've won two awards in this year's contest, and we were finalists for 10 others.

Freelance photographer Shelley Eades won second place for news photo, with a shot (attached) that captured the City Hall vibe on the first day of same-sex weddings following the Marriage Cases ruling:

And our former colleague, Evan Hill, won second place for investigative/enterprise for his look at Kamala Harris' lackluster conviction rate:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=900005509341

Although two is not a lot of wins for us by recent years' standards, CNPA informs us that 10 of our submissions were finalists, meaning they passed the first cut of judging and made the final four. Given the extremely high quality of these entries, I can only conclude that the competition was exceptionally stiff:

Dan Levine's article on the rash of suicides by men awaiting sentencing on child pornography charges, a finalist for public service:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202421729759

Mike McKee, Cheryl Miller and others on the Supreme Court's Marriage Cases ruling, a finalist for local breaking news:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202421419589

Mike McKee's examination of diversity (or lack thereof) on the California Supreme Court staff, a finalist for investigative/enterprise:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=900005509683

Zusha Elinson's thorough takeout on the consequences for GCs at companies that backdated options, a finalist for investigative/enterprise, and Jason's photo illustration for the same story (secretly starring Derrick Miller), a finalist for illustration/infographic:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=900005508970

Jason's whimsical photo illustration of Alex Kozinski, when he came under fire for his "porn" computer files, the other finalist for illustration/infographic:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202423425262

And Jason's shot of the federal building guards replacing Bush's photo with Obama's was a finalist for feature photo:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202437264930 (third photo in the slide show)

Petra Pasternak's story "Rolling the Dice," about lawyers starting their own firms in the middle of the economic downturn, a finalist for business story:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202428051531

And George Riemann's cartoon of Ron George's "masterpiece" and its public reception, a finalist for editorial cartoon:

http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202425859076

You can see a full list of the winners here:

http://www.cnpa.com/files/misc/2009%20BNC%20Daily%20Winners.pdf

Please join me in congratulating the winners and the finalists on their exceptional work".