Mountain View Voice wins national reporting awards

The Mountain View Voice received top recognition for its investigative reporting last year, and was honored for its coverage of education and even sports at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles over the weekend. The Voice received five awards in total.

The California News Publishers Association hosts the annual contest for print and online newspapers across the state, which received nearly 3,000 entries this year. The Voice competes with other newspapers of similar size, going up against publications with 300,000 to 399,000 unique visitors per month.

The Voice took first place in the investigative reporting category for its coverage of LifeMoves Mountain View, a transitional housing project designed to serve as a critical interface between homelessness and permanent housing. Reporters Malea Martin and Magali Gauthier spent months researching problems reported at the facility and critical questions about the program’s effectiveness.

In its justification, the jury stated that the reporting was “solid … supported by numerous interviews with all those involved, which are understandable for the reader.”

Second place in youth and education coverage goes to reporter Zoe Morgan, who wrote an article about the growing concern among Mountain View High School journalists that the school administration was exerting too much control over the school newspaper.

The judges wrote that Morgan “did a good job of explaining the rules and laws governing student newspapers and holding those in power accountable for their decisions.” Since then, two students and the student newspaper’s adviser have filed suit alleging coercion and retaliation.

Although sports coverage is limited, the Voice received high honors, taking second place in the sports reporting category for Emily Margaretten’s coverage of kick volleyball, a sport that is gaining popularity here in the Bay Area. Judges praised the accurate description of the sport and how it works, as well as its importance here locally. It was one of two stories highlighting unusual sports in Mountain View; the other was kayak polo.

Gauthier also won third place in the photojournalism category for reportage photography at Foothill College. Her photos accompanied Morgan’s report on the college’s bachelor’s degree programs in respiratory therapy and dental hygiene, which were created as a pilot program and became permanent under state law.

Although The Voice competed for awards primarily in its own category, it submitted its LifeMoves reporting in the “Open Division,” in which publications across California vie for recognition regardless of size. Martin and Gauthier’s work won fifth place in the investigative journalism category.

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