Behind the Badge OC staffers, contributors win eight Orange County Press Club awards

BehindtheBadgeOC.com staff members and contributors won eight awards at the Orange County Press Club’s annual journalism awards and gala Monday night for stories, photos and videos published in 2014.

Behind the Badge OC launched June 30, 2014.

Best Feature Broadcast was awarded to Trent Schlom, a Behind the Badge OC contributor, for his video “Meet Tustin’s Blake Zika, Who’s Out to Save the World.”

Best News Photo, First Place was awarded to Behind the Badge OC contributor Steven Georges for his poignant shot of the family of Lt. Ken Alexander at Alexander’s memorial service. The Placentia police officer died Nov. 9, 2014 after suffering a heart attack.

Steven Georges won another award, for Second Place, Best Feature Photo for capturing a tender moment between Fullerton Police Sgt. Kathryn Hamel and a dog she and her husband, Irvine PD Deputy Chief Mike Hamel, adopted.

John Roman, a police officer in Orange County and a Behind the Badge OC contributor, won Best Lifestyle or Family Blog for Badge415, his chronicle of the human side of police work. Many of his posts are published as columns on this site.

Behind the Badge OC staff writer Greg Hardesty won three awards that he co-wrote when he was a reporter at the OC Register in the first half of 2014: Best Feature Story, First Place, with Keith Sharon for “Suicide by Train: Shared Tragedies Upend String of Lives.”

That same story, which detailed the tragic end of the life of a Dana Point man who spiraled into mental illness, also won Best Profile, First Place. And Hardesty shared an award with Denisse Salazar for Best Profile, Third Place for “Club Beating Death: Pham Family Deals with Hole of Unrealized Life.”

Editor Bill Rams won Third Place, Marjorie Freeman Award for Best Humorous Story for a column that was published in the Orange County Register about becoming a dad for the second time.

The awards were hosted by Kedric Francis, editorial director of custom content at Freedom Media.

Here’s a complete list of the winners:

Best News or Political Blog — Matt Coker, “Navel Gazing,” OC Weekly

Best Public Affairs Story — Honorable Mention, Joanna Clay, Orange County Register, “High schools scramble to combat rise in heroin abuse”

Third Place, Margot Roosevelt, Orange County Register, “Mandatory sick pay: Good for state’s health?”

Second place, Andrew Galvin, OC Weekly, “United We Tramp: How Santa Ana’s Homeless Rose Up”

First Place, Roxana Kopetman, Orange County Register, “Politics, activism, families: How Prop. 187 is still being felt 20 years later”

Best Feature Story — Honorable Mention, Charles Lam, OC Weekly, “The Very Merry Un-Gangs of Disneyland”

Third place, Jordan England-Nelson, Orange County Register, “On land or sea, WaterCar has speed on any surface”

Second Place, Nate Jackson, OC Weekly, “Punk Rock Pastor Joe Furey’s Life of Addiction, Loss and Recovery Makes Him the Perfect Man to Preach to the Imperfect”

First Place, Keith Sharon and Greg Hardesty, Orange County Register, “Suicide by train: Shared tragedies upend string of lives.”

Best Feature Photo – Third Place, Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register

Second Place, Steven Georges, Behind the Badge

First Place, Ralph Palumbo, Orange County Register Magazine

Best Feature Broadcast — Trent Schlom, Behind the Badge, “Meet Tustin’s Blake Zika, who’s out to save the world”

Best Sports Story – Third place, Todd Harmonson, Orange County Register, “Los Al-based California Chrome polishes off Derby field”

Second place, Matt Coker, OC Weekly, “The Slugger: Mark Trumbo”

First place, Todd Harmonson, Orange County Register, “We’ve got a horse in this race! California Chrome could be The One”

Best Sports Photo — Third Place, Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register

Second Place, Michael Goulding, Orange County Register

First Place, Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register

Best Arts or Culture Story — Honorable Mention, Pamela K. Knudsen, Laguna Beach Life, “The Art of Healing: How to Find Yourself in Laguna”

Third place, Andrea Saenz, Orange County Register Magazine, “My Own Frida”

Second place, LP Hastings, OC Weekly; “Fullerton’s Magoski Arts Colony Is Orange County’s Last, Best Hope for an Artist Shangri-La”

First place, Charles Lam, OC Weekly, “Little Saigon’s Cafe Queen”

Best Arts or Culture Review — Honorable Mention, Timothy Mangan, Orange County Register, “Merit of ‘Mozart effect’ is beside the point”

Third place, Richard Chang, Orange County Register, “Muzeo showcases trash as art”

Second place Paul Hodgins, Orange County Register, “Spare us from this monstrosity”

First place, Dave Barton, OC Weekly, “Satyr Motorcycle Club’s Road Warriors”

Best Travel Story — Honorable Mention, Jordan England-Nelson, Orange County Register, “Road trip to Bay Area is romance on a shoestring”

Third place, Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register, “In Zihuatanejo, Thursdays are pozole days”

Second place, Steve Bramucci, Coast Magazine, “Spain to France, the Heming-way”

First place, Jordan England Nelson, Orange County Register, “Tijuana bars: Young Mexican artists and musicians lead today’s scene”

Best Lifestyle or Family Blog — John Roman, Badge415

Best Cover Design — Third place, Brooke Shaden, Coast Magazine

Second place, Laila Derakhshanian, Orange County Register, “Moment of Truth?”

First place, Dustin Ames, OC Weekly, “The Very Merry Un-Gangs of Disneyland”

Best Page Design (single story) — Randi Karabin, Orange County Register Magazine, “Culinary Cool D’Etat”

Best Graphic or Illustration — Bob Aul, OC Weekly

Best Business Story — Honorable mention, Joseph Pimentel, Orange County Register, “Trendy crowding out traditional in Santa Ana”

Third place, Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly, “Aaron Kushner’s Wrecking Ball”

Second place, Heather Skyler, Orange County Register OC Metro magazine, “Northgate Gonzalez Market found its niche, and keeps growing”

First place, Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, “Dunkin’ who? Donut wars about to heat up”

Best News Story — Third place, Scott Schwebke, Orange County Register, “911 Call: Shot and bleeding, wounded 91 freeway driver wouldn’t end chase”

Second place, H.G. Reza, OC Weekly, “Santa Ana Michocanos vs. the Templarios”

First place, Anh Do, Los Angeles Times, “For Kim Pham’s hospital team, tender care and a hard good bye

Best News Photo — Steven Georges, Behind the Badge

Best Investigative Story — Third place, Keegan Kyle and Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register, “Illusion of Safety”

Second place, Salvador Hernandez, Orange County Register, “Son of mayor called ‘unsafe’ as firefighter”

First place, Keegan Kyle, Orange County Register, “Lengthy probes into police shootings bring frustration”

Best Music or Entertainment Story — Third place, Sarah Tully, Orange County Register, “Disneyland’s ‘It’s a Small World’ turns 50”

Second place, Michael Miller, Daily Pilot, “Steppenwolf more than a band to these Veterans”

First place, Jim Washburn, Orange County Register Magazine, “Say It Loud”

Best Music or Entertainment Review — Third place, Richard Chang, Orange County Register, “Ziggy Marley at the OC Fair”

Second place, Richard Chang, Orange County Register, “Playboy Jazz Festival”

First place, Matt Coker, OC Weekly, “Gary Webb never said no to the truth”

Best Entertainment Blog — Patrick Chavis, The Orange Curtain Review

Best Food or Restaurant Story — Honorable mention, Gustavo Arellano, Edwin Goei, Charles Lam and Dave Lieberman, OC Weekly, “OC Food Issue 2014: Wrap-tastic!”

Third place, Paul Hodgins, Orange County Register, “Sideways’ 10th anniversary: Does merlot still have pinot envy?”

Second place, Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, “Remember Naugles? Blogger fights Del Taco to revive defunct fast-food brand”

First place, Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register, “Where to find O.C.’s top 10 steaks”

Best Food/Restaurant Review — Honorable mention, Edwin Goei, OC Weekly, “Go Dutch to the Dutch Club AVIO”

Best Food/Restaurant Review — Third place, Brad A. Johnson, LA Register, “Faith & Flower”

Second place, Brad A. Johnson, LA Register, “Orsa & Winston”

First place, Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register, “Waterman’s Harbor raises the bar for Dana Point”

Best Food Blog — Gustavo Arellano, Dave Lieberman, Edwin Goei and Charles Lam, “Stick a Fork In It, “ OC Weekly

Best Profile — Honorable mention, Matt Coker, OC Weekly, “An Inconvenient Thirst: Rain Can’t Save Us From This Drought”

Third place, Denisse Salazar and Greg Hardesty, Orange County Register, “Club beating death: “Pham family deals with hole of unrealized life”

Second place, Margot Roosevelt, Orange County Register, “PAAMCO CEO Jane Buchan seeks clarity among fund billions”

First place, Keith Sharon and Greg Hardesty, Orange County Register, “Suicide by train: Shared tragedies upend string of lives”

Best Portrait — Third place, Ralph Palumbo, Orange County Register Magazine

Second place, John Gilhooley, OC Weekly

First place, Ralph Palumbo, Orange County Register Magazine

Best Photo Essay — Marc Ohrem-Leclef, Orange County Register Magazine

Best Slideshow — Taylor Hamby, OC Weekly, “21st Annual Civil War Days Living History & Reenactment”

Best Round-up or ‘Best Of’ Feature — Third place, Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register, “An explosion of flavor: Brad A. Johnson dishes out his 2014 O.C. restaurant awards”

Second place, Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, “Mash-up madness: Wacky culinary combos invade local eateries”

First place, OC Weekly Staff, OC Weekly, “Classiest Summer Ever!”

Marjorie Freeman Award for Best Humorous Story — Honorable Mention, Matt Coker, Orange County Weekly, “An Open Letter of Apology to Angels ‘El Hombre’ Pujols”

Third place, Bill Rams, Orange County Register , “A new dad for the second time”

Second place, Mark D. Crantz, Laguna Beach Independent, “The Anomaly: A Blank Slate”

First place, OC Weekly Staff, Orange County Weekly, “OC’s Scariest People 2014!”

David McQuay Award for Best Columnist — Honorable Mention, R. Scott Moxley, OC Weekly

Third place, Mark D. Crantz, Laguna Beach Independent

Second place, Jeff Miller, Orange County Register

First place, Todd Harmonson, Orange County Register

The Real O.C. Award — Joel Beers, OC Weekly, “The Santa Ana River Is Ready for Its Renaissance”

Sky Dunlap Award Winner — Gustavo Arellano, O.C. Weekly editor-in-chief and columnist