Overview: Black Voice News (BVN) was named a finalist in five categories for the California Journalism Awards, including Photo Story/Essay, Audience/Community Engagement Award, Informational Graphic, and Homelessness Reporting. The news organization won first place in three categories and second place in a fourth category. The awards ceremony was held on May 17, 2025, at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City Hotel.
Staff
The California News Publishers Association (CNPA) announced that Black Voice News (BVN) as a finalist across five different categories for their coverage in 2024, with three 1st Place wins!
The annual California Journalism Awards, hosted by the California News Publishers Association, recognizes excellence in journalism and outstanding work in reporting and informing readers through reporting, design, photography and multimedia in print and online.
Black Voice News was listed as a finalist among publications like the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Desert Sun and The Orange County Register. Finalists placed in the top five of at least one of their entered categories. In 2024, CNPA received 3,000 entries.
“Black Voice News is a small, but mighty team that takes pride in producing stories that are focused on community, equity and solutions,” said BVN Executive Editor Stephanie Williams. “It is always a good feeling to know that others recognize the quality of reporting produced by our editorial team, supported by the data analytics of our partners at Mapping Black California and the creative work of our design team.”
At the awards event held Saturday, May 17, Black Voice News won first place in three categories and second place in a fourth category as follows:
First Place
Photo Story/Essay for the photo story that features different parents who are full time caregivers to their children (who are now adults still in need of care), and explores the triumphs and challenges they face. This story was written by BVN photojournalist Aryana Noroozi, who also captured the featured images. This story was published with support from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and is part of “Healing California,” a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California.
First Place
Audience/Community Engagement Award for hosting a community talk and exhibition based on a yearlong series titled Care in the IE. The series was written by BVN health reporter Breanna Reeves and freelance reporter Mariah Brown. The article highlighting the community event was written by BVN reporter, California Local News fellow and LA Press Club Foot in the Door Fellow, Alyssah Hall. The project was supported in part by the United Domestic Workers of America representing home care and family child care providers across the state of California.
First Place
Informational Graphic for work produced for the Tapestry series, an exploration of biracial and multicultural identities, the history of biracialism in America and stories of biracial life as experienced across three generations. The video was shot, edited and directed by BVN photojournalist Aryana Noroozi with Mapping California Project Manager, Alex Reed.This project was funded in part by the Stop the Hate program administered by the California State Library.
Second Place
Homelessness Reporting for a feature article focusing on San Bernardino County’s only street medicine team. The article was written by BVN photojournalist Aryana Noroozi, who also photographed the images for the article. This story was published with support from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and is part of “Healing California,” a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California.
Winners were announced during the annual California Journalism Awards Gala 2025 on May 17, 2025, at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City Hotel. The awards were part of a larger program, which features several knowledge and networking sessions, where members of the CNPA Board of Directors and Events Committee led discussions on the most pressing issues in journalism.
