The Hollywood Reporter Nabs 10 SoCal Journalism Awards

The Hollywood Reporter won 10 first-place awards at the 67th SoCal Journalism Awards, including two wins for best magazine feature, one for best entertainment commentary and a first-ever nod in the best headline category.

The Los Angeles Press Club handed out the awards at a ceremony held Sunday night inside the Crystal Ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The news comes on the heels of The Hollywood Reporter’s award presented by the 2025 American Society of Magazine Editors in its best cover contest. THR was awarded the best local magazine cover for its 2024 “Work Issue,” which hit newsstands on October 30, 2024.

Special honorees at the ceremony were Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times and ESPN, who was presented with the Joseph M. Quinn Award for Lifetime Achievement; CNN’s Clarissa Ward, who received the Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism; and actress Kim Fields, who was honored with the Public Service Award for Contributions to Civic Life. 

In addition, special awards for “stellar coverage” the 2025 L.A. wildfires were presented to ABC 7, Fox 11, KCAL News/CBS Los Angeles, KTLA, NBC 4, Spectrum News 1, Telemundo 52 and Univision 34, with a powerful video montage shown to those in attendance.

Here are all of The Hollywood Reporter’s first-, second- and third-place wins.

JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

ONLINE JOURNALIST, Tied to an Organization
3rd: James Hibberd

ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST
3rd: Mesfin Fekadu

ALL MEDIA PLATFORMS Print, Radio, Podcast, TV or Online

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS OF FILM
1st: Lovia Gyarkye, “Critic’s Notebook: A New Wave of Films Experiments With How We See Climate Change”

CRITICISM OF TV
2nd: Angie Han

CRITICISM OF FILM (Over 1,000 Words; Each Review)
3rd: Jon Frosch

CRITICISM OF FILM (Under 1,000 Words; Each Review)
3rd: Lovia Gyarkye

CRITICISM OF THEATER/PERFORMING ARTS
3rd: David Rooney

PRINT/ONLINE – ANY OUTLET

HEADLINE
1st: James Hibberd, “Cats Are Finally Having a Big Hollywood Meow-Ment”

LOCAL POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT REPORTING, Homelessness/Housing
3rd: Kevin Dolak, “Beverly Hills in Crisis as Judge Mandates New Affordable Housing: “People Are Furious”

OBITUARY/IN APPRECIATION, TV/Film Personalities
2nd: Daniel Fienberg, “Critic’s Appreciation: Bob Newhart Was an Everyman With a Comic Voice Like No Other”

ART/PHOTOGRAPHY

COVER ART
2nd: Peter B. Cury, Ash Barhamand, Fredrik Broden, “Stuck”

PRINT – ANY OUTLET

BUSINESS REPORTING
2nd: Mia Galuppo, “The Big Squeeze: Why Everyone in Hollywood Feels Stuck”

MAGAZINES

COLUMNIST
2nd: Mesfin Fekadu

FEATURE, Business/Government (Over 1,000 Words)
1st: Jason McGahan, “Elite Private Security”

FEATURE (Under 1,000 Words) Any feature
1st: Rebecca Keegan, “Can Watching Movies Rewire Your Brain?”

TV/STREAMING/RADIO FEATURE
1st: Alex Weprin, “How the NBA’s Slam-Dunk Deals Will Reshape TV”

FILM FEATURE
2nd: Rebecca Keegan, “Resurrecting ‘Rust’: How Alec Baldwin’s Ill-Fated Flick Got Finished”

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
1st: Nicole Fell, “Unreleased Michael Jackson Tapes Discovered in Abandoned Storage Unit (Exclusive)”

PERSONALITY PROFILE, Film Personalities
3rd: Mark Oppenheimer, “‘Snakes on a Plane’ Changed His Life. Then It All Fell Apart”

PERSONALITY PROFILE, Politics/Business/Arts Personalities
1st: Chris Gardner, “‘I’m Bloody Tired of Hiding’: Lynda Obst on Her Trailblazing Career and Devastating Diagnosis”
2nd: Seth Abramovitch, “Jake Paul Hits Back: How a Fallen YouTube Star Found Redemption in the Ring”

TELEVISION/FILM

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS or FEATURE (Over 5 Minutes)
2nd: Lesley Corral, Jason Bass, Harry Buerkle, Dominoe Ibarra, “THR On Set of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ For Season 21 With Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr. & Rest of Cast”

AUDIO JOURNALISM

PERSONALITY PROFILE/INTERVIEW, Entertainment Personalities (Over 10 Minutes)
2nd: Scott Feinberg, “‘Awards Chatter’ Podcast: Martin Scorsese on ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Blending His Past Films, the Marvel Controversy and Almost Directing ‘Schindler’s List’”

ONLINE

CULTURE NEWS, Film/TV related
3rd: Ryan Gajewski, “‘Twisters’ Reignites Debate Over Steamy Scenes in Movies”

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, Film/Broadcast Related
1st: Katie Kilkenny, “Struggling Entertainment Workers Are Fleeing Hollywood — But Some Employers Balk at Showbiz Backgrounds”

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, Music/Performing Arts
2nd: Mesfin Fekadu, “Rep: Beyoncé Is Not Performing at DNC; “Was Never Scheduled” to Attend (Exclusive)”

RACE AND SOCIETY REPORTING
2nd: Chris Gardner, “Turmoil at Brentwood’s Country Mart: How Hamas Book Sparked Fiery Protest and Tense Fallout”

NEWS FEATURE, Film/Broadcast Related
2nd: Lily Ford, “The Art of Filming Sex Safely and the Case for an Intimacy Coordinator Oscar”

TV/STREAMING/RADIO FEATURE
3rd: Mesfin Fekadu, “‘Abbott Elementary’ and The Glow Up of Janine Teagues”

FILM FEATURE, Production Histories
1st: Scott Feinberg, “Was the Oscar Statuette Modeled and Named After Ancient Egyptian Gods?”
3rd: Mia Galuppo, “‘SNL’: The Movie! – How ‘Saturday Night’ Filmmakers Found Their Stars”

PERSONALITY PROFILE, TV/Film Personalities
3rd: Scott Feinberg, “Karolyn Grimes, Zuzu in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ Looks Back on a Life That Wasn’t Always Wonderful”

COLUMNIST, Entertainment/Media
1st: Mesfin Fekadu

ENTERTAINMENT COMMENTARY, TV/Film Related
1st: James Hibberd, “Is Disney Bad at Star Wars?”

ENTERTAINMENT COMMENTARY, Arts
2nd: Lovia Gyarkye, “Critic’s Notebook: Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Is Haunted by Ghosts of Rejection”

WEBSITE, TRADITIONAL NEWS ORGANIZATION
2nd: The Hollywood Reporter Staff, The Hollywood Reporter