The Bay Area News Group — publisher of the Mercury News and East Bay Times — received national honors Thursday from the Society of Professional Journalists for its exclusive look last year at police body-camera video from the deadly Wine Country fires.
“You just gotta get out of here” was awarded a 2018 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Online Non-Deadline Reporting — the second national award for the immersive multimedia project, which also received a 2018 EPPY.
The recognition comes a week-and-a-half after the Bay Area News Group and the staff of its partner newspaper the Chico Enterprise-Record were named finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News category for their collaborative coverage of last year’s devastating Camp Fire.
Reporters Julia Prodis Sulek and Matthias Gafni, video producer Randy Vasquez and web designer Pai teamed up to produce “You just gotta get out of here,” bringing to light heroic rescuers and harrowing escapes — and helping explain why people in danger sometimes don’t flee. Through vivid multimedia, the project illuminated the life-and-death choices Californians may soon face before and after the next big wildfire.
“We’re humbled by this recognition from SPJ,” said Frank Pine, executive editor of the Bay Area News Group and Southern California News Group. “We hope our reporting in the wake of this tragic firestorm will help ensure our readers are better prepared should they ever face such an incredible disaster.”
The award was the second in two years from the Society of Professional Journalists for Prodis Sulek, who took home a Sigma Delta Chi last year for her six-part narrative series and podcast “Hanging: The mysterious case of the boy in the barn.”
The Sigma Delta Chi Awards recognized the best journalism in 2018 from newspapers, online news sites, television and radio broadcasts, and magazines. Other winners included work from the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Reveal from the Emeryville-based Center for Investigative Reporting. Winners will be honored in June at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
