Awards arranged on a table

Announcing Finalists for the 2025 Excellence in Journalism Awards

The Orange County Press Club is excited to announce the finalists for the 2025 Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Award winners will be celebrated at the Press Club’s annual awards gala on June 18 at the Anaheim Hills Golf Course, 6501 E. Nohl Ranch Road, Anaheim. Cocktail hour starts at 6 p.m., followed by the awards program.

Tickets can be purchased for $75 via PayPal.

And now, the award finalists are . . .

  • Ashley Ahn 
  • Daniel Aitken
  • Heather Ashbach
  • Annika Bahnsen
  • Paul Bersebach
  • Noah Biesiada
  • Keith Birmingham
  • Carolyn Burt
  • Sara Cardine
  • Mara Casey
  • Fashion Castillo
  • Terry Castleman
  • Richard Chang
  • Matthew Coker
  • Jeff Collins
  • Mark Crantz
  • Mimi Ko Cruz
  • Spencer Custodio
  • Ivy Dai
  • Samantha Dunn
  • Hosam Elattar
  • Dorothy Elder
  • Yusra Farzan
  • John Fredricks
  • Laila Freeman
  • Billy Fried
  • Hannah Fry
  • Kristina Garcia 
  • Nick Gerda
  • Edwin Goei
  • Jeff Goertzen
  • Manuel Gomez
  • Malena Gonzales
  • Spencer Grant 
  • Jeff Gritchen
  • Chris Haire
  • Todd Harmonson
  • Scott Hays
  • Angie Orellana Hernandez
  • Paul Hodgins
  • Jonathan Horwitz
  • Brad A. Johnson
  • Hanna Kang
  • Brock Keeling
  • Victoria Le
  • Peter Lefevre
  • Julie Leopo
  • Christopher Luu
  • Mike Madrid
  • Pat Maio
  • Timothy Mangan
  • Eric Marchese
  • Patrice Marsters
  • Greg Mellen
  • Eddie Monahan
  • Sarah Mosqueda
  • Andre Mouchard
  • Caitlin Navo
  • Anne Marie Panoringan
  • Han Parker
  • Jessica Peralta
  • Shawn Price
  • Cynthia Rebolledo
  • Rick Reiff
  • Jill Replogle
  • Erika Ritchie
  • Paul Rodriguez
  • Ted Rohrlich
  • Ashley Ryan
  • Gabriel San Román
  • Tony Saavedra
  • Maximo Santana
  • Norberto Santana Jr.
  • Haley Sawyer
  • Kaitlyn Schallhorn
  • Mindy Schauer
  • Scott Schwebke
  • Teri Sforza
  • Richard Simon
  • Michael Slaten
  • Dustin Snipes
  • Sharon Stello
  • Erika Taylor
  • Grace Toohey
  • Destiny Torres
  • Christopher Trela
  • Andrew Turner
  • Anne Valdespino
  • Vanessa Vela
  • Ruben Vives
  • Richard Winton
  • Kaitlin Wright
  • David N. Young

We look forward to celebrating media excellence with everyone on June 18!

Buy Your Tickets to the 2025 Excellence in Journalism Gala

On June 18, join us for a night of celebrating excellence in O.C. media!

The Orange County Press Club’s annual Excellence in Journalism Gala is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 18 at the Anaheim Hills Golf Course, 6501 E. Nohl Ranch Road in Anaheim.

Parking is free, and there will be a cash bar.

Tickets are $75 and can be purchased via PayPal – here.

OC Press Club Adds 4 Board Members

The 2024-25 Orange County Press Club Board of Directors is thrilled to welcome four newly elected members. We thank them for answering the call to serve on behalf of Orange County’s press corps.

  • Destiny Torres is a local reporter at The Orange County Register and Southern California News Group.
  • Hosam Elattar is a reporter with the Voice of OC
  • Hanna Kang is a reporter at The Orange County Register covering Orange County politics.
  • Carrie Freitas is CEO of Kitchen Table Marketing + PR (KTM), publisher of Tableau online magazine and former news broadcaster.

They will join returning board members Clara Beard, Breeana Greenberg, Patty Marsters, Andrew Turner and David N. Young.

Lastly, the Board is extremely grateful for our departing members’ years of service. Daniel Langhorne served in various leadership roles, including president and vice president, since 2018. Immediate past president Brandon Pho had served on the board since 2021. Board members Caitlin Antonios, Kathy Hobstetter and Spencer Grant have also departed from the nonprofit.

OC Press Club Endorses Local News Employment Tax Credit Bill

The Board of Directors sent the following letter to Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) in support of SB 1327 on May 21, 2024.

Dear Senator Min,

We strongly encourage you to support the proposed local news employment credits, which could truly revitalize community news in California. It could dramatically improve the capacity of newsrooms to cover their communities, and is especially attentive to the role of medium- and small-sized outlets, whose survival is most at risk.

As publishers of news in Orange County, we appreciate that the newsroom support approach in the SB 1327 recognizes the numerous nuances in business operations of for-profits and non-profits, urban and rural, and for those both employing full-time staff and rosters of freelancers.

It’s important to understand why supporting local journalism employment is fundamental to the future of local news in California.

In California, since 2004, we have lost an astounding 68% of journalists, as well as 25 percent of our newspapers. Total news circulation has dropped more than 50 percent.

Much research, and commonsense, tells us that communities poor in news see far less public engagement, lower voting and reduced civil debate. Strong local news is as much a public good as are our schools, libraries and hospitals – and integral to the success of all those institutions.

To the end of reversing that decline, we believe the use of employment tax credits will be transformative.

Importantly, the proposed credits keep the state out of the business of picking winners or losers, comfortably compatible with the First Amendment and the need to protect the editorial independence of news outlets. Simply, news operations that maintain and grow their journalism workforces get help in doing so, as market conditions challenge long-used business models.

In addition, we believe the framework supports innovation to come as well, by opening space for publishers to enter new markets and better serve communities of all kinds.

The distribution of funding to news outlets is one we hope California can join in providing model leadership, joining similar laws, one recently passed in New York State and another last year in Canada.

While we understand that there is more legislative debate and discussion to come in this area, including how such funding can best be financed, we underline our support for the instrument of payroll tax credits – best delineated in SB 1327.

Sincerely,

The Orange County Press Club

An Open Letter to Melissa Evans, Long Beach Post Management

Dear Melissa Evans,

 

We seriously urge you and Long Beach Post management to reverse your decision to lay off nine employees of the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal on Friday, all of whom were working toward voluntary recognition of the Long Beach Media Guild, a unit of Media Guild of the West.

It is our understanding that earlier this month, management had planned seven layoffs, but put this plan on hold in response to a letter from staff. 

We find it concerning that this number increased on Friday after the formation of the union, with additional layoff notices sent to workers who were central to the unionization efforts and were assured prior to the union drive that their positions were safe.

This leaves the Long Beach Post newsroom – and the metropolitan area that relies on the organization – with just three reporters. 

We urge you to take a serious look at the union’s proposed cost-saving measures in lieu of the layoffs, in light of your decision to lease a $6,000 per month office in Downtown Long Beach and grant yourself a raise on Dec. 1, according to the Long Beach Media Guild.

We agree with the Guild that this constitutes an act of retaliation and support their filing of an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board.

We trust that you will do the right thing.

Respectfully,

The Orange County Press Club Board of Directors

 

Brandon Pho

Kathy Hobstetter

Daniel Langhorne

Patrice Marsters

David N. Young

Andrew Turner

Jackie Moe

Clara Beard

Spencer Grant

Breeana Greenberg

Caitlin Antonios

 

An Open Letter to Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do

Dear Supervisor Andrew Do, 

We are writing to express our disappointment in using your position as a public official on Wednesday, Dec. 20 to call for the firing of LAist reporter Nick Gerda, over his reporting on your  approval of awarding public dollars to a nonprofit run by your daughter.

As the OC Register Editorial Board has now shown, your statement uses a minor technical glitch in one of the nonprofit filings to falsely claim that Gerda forged the document.

Journalists would not be doing their job if they did not constantly call attention to suspect public contractor relationships such as yours.

Your comments are a disservice to not only the journalists who watch dog the county, but also to the public you were elected to serve. 

We expect more from our public officials, and seriously urge you to apologize.

Respectfully,

The Orange County Press Club Board of Directors

 

Brandon Pho

Daniel Langhorne

Caitlin Antonios

Kathy Hobstetter

David Young

Patty Marsters

Breeana Greenberg

Jackie Moe

Clara Beard

Andrew Turner

Spencer Grant

Statement Concerning the SCNG Guild Walkout

Dear members,

Tomorrow, journalists from 11 newspapers across Southern California are walking out of their newsrooms in protest of stagnant wages, while their corporate owners spend money to acquire more newsrooms. Alden Global clearly has capital; they’re choosing not to invest it in the employees who make their products possible.

The workers’ message has been clear: Their cost of living has gone up while waiting as much as 20 years for a raise – and they cannot afford to wait much longer.

The Orange County Press Club’s Board of Directors stands with these journalists and their labor union, Southern California News Group (SCNG) Guild, in their efforts to secure the fair contract they deserve.

We urge SCNG executives to come to the table with a proposal that is fair for everyone.

In the meantime, SCNG Guild has been raising funds for workers who may be financially impacted by the walkout.

We encourage you to make a contribution to help our fellow corps members in a time of need. Click here to donate.

Best Regards,

The 2023-24 Orange County Press Club Board of Directors

OC photographer Richard Koehler dies at 82

Photojournalist Richard Koehler died at home surrounded by his family on Oct. 12, Costa Mesa police said in a Facebook post. He was 82.
Koehler was a breaking news photographer since the early 1970s, freelancing for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times and AP.
He was often the first news photographer at crashes and crime scenes in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach, day or night. He attended high school in Newport Beach and graduated from Orange Coast College.
The Orange County Press Club Board of Directors is mourning our long-time colleague Koehler who worked tirelessly to get the “scoop.” He was a frequent recipient of OC Press Club awards, including the 2022 Best News Photo for his image of a fatal crash in Newport Beach.

Newport Beach Police Department traffic officers (MAIT) investigates fatal solo vehicle into building at 6904 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach Saturday evening, January 23, 2021. Photo by Richard Koehler, Contributing Photographer

A Special Note to Members on Orange Unified School District Board Meeting

Dear Members,

The Orange County Press Club Board of Directors is following claims that private security guards hired by the Orange Unified School District attempted to corral Voice of OC, Southern California News Group and freelance photographers into a press pen during a public meeting on Sept. 7.

After speaking with two photojournalists who were harassed in the course of their work, the Board feels it prudent to remind our members that state and federal case law is on their side in these types of situations involving a “designated press area” at public proceedings. We believe arming reporters and photographers with information about their rights is the best defense against this bad behavior.

From the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press: Cal. Gov’t Code § 54950 As stated by one court, “it is clearly the public policy of this State that the proceedings of public agencies, and the conduct of the public’s business, shall take place at open meetings, and that the deliberative process by which decisions related to the public’s business shall be conducted in full view of the public.”

Journalists are and should be treated just like members of the public. Sequestering people based on their occupation is a slippery slope.

The Board has discussed next steps to educate OUSD officials and the public that we will not tolerate further infringement of press freedoms in Orange County.

Best Regards,

The 2022-23 Orange County Press Club Board of Directors

OC Press Club Seeks 2023-24 Board Candidates

Dear Members,

It’s election season, and an opportunity to bring your voice to the Orange County Press Club Board of Directors.

Voting will happen in the last week of September, but starting now you can add your name as a candidate.

Candidates are asked to email ocpressclub@gmail.com with their name, employer/news organization, a short bio and candidate statement (laying out your ideas, values, or anything you think might connect with voters) by Sept. 22.

All candidates must be current on membership dues: $25 for journalists and $50 for PR professionals/non-journalists.

On top of planning the Press Club’s annual awards gala, board members also host networking and informational events throughout the year for members. The volunteer board works alongside groups throughout California to advocate for press freedom and other issues important to journalists in Orange County. The Board also stewards the next generation of journalists by sponsoring scholarships and fellowships for high school and college students.

The Press Club is looking for journalists from across a variety of mediums, publications and backgrounds to help further this mission. Freelancers and journalism educators are welcome to enter.

Please send any questions about the process to bpho@voiceofoc.org.

Best Regards,

Brandon Pho
Vice President, 2022-23 Orange County Press Club Board of Directors