Sun-Star reporter wins top public service honor in 2019 Gruner journalism awards

The Merced Sun-Star’s Vikaas Shanker captured a 2019 George F. Gruner Award for meritorious public service for his work last year exposing a sexual harassment scandal at Golden Valley High School in Merced.

Four other Sun-Star journalists - Mike Dunbar, Andrew Kuhn, Shawn Jansen, and Rob Parsons - also took home first-place prizes for their work last year at Merced County’s leading digital news source and daily newspaper.

The awards for work produced in 2018 were announced Wednesday night at a reception at the Fresno Art Museum. The prizes honor George F. Gruner, who worked for 33 years at The Fresno Bee before retiring in 1988 as executive editor.

Joe Kieta, editor of the Merced Sun-Star and its sister paper, The Fresno Bee, described the string of first-place awards as “affirmation of the dedication and hard-working talent” in Merced’s newsroom.

“Awards from our peers are a great acknowledgment of the Sun-Star’s commitment to excellent community journalism that our readers can’t get anywhere else,” Kieta said following Wednesday’s ceremony.

It is the second time in his young career that Shanker has received the George F. Gruner award for meritorious public service. He previously took home the award in 2017 while working for the Sun-Star’s sister publication, the Los Banos Enterprise, for his work detailing a public corruption probe with alleged ties to a Merced-area general contractor and a former Los Banos school board member.

Shanker, a 30-year-old Chicago-area native, joined the Los Banos Enterprise in 2016 and came to the Merced Sun-Star in late 2017.

The competition recognizes meritorious public service, best column, best news story, best sports feature story, best feature, best news/feature photo and best sports photo. It’s open to San Joaquin Valley newspapers and prizes are awarded in three categories – large daily newspapers, small daily newspapers and weekly newspapers.

The winners and honorable mentions in the other categories:

Public Service – Winners: Garth Stapley, Modesto Bee; Vikaas Shanker, Merced Sun-Star; Paul Myers, Foothills Sun-Gazette. Honorable mention: Sam Morgen, Bakersfield Californian; Sheyanne Romero, Visalia Times-Delta; Greg Little, Nicole W. Little, Matt Johnson, Laura Phillips and John Mabon, Mariposa Gazette.

Best column – Winners: Warszawski; Mike Dunbar, Merced Sun-Star; and John Spevak, Los Banos Enterprise. Honorable mention: Robert Price, Bakersfield Californian; James Ward, Visalia Times-Delta; Greg Little, Mariposa Gazette.

Best sports photo – Winners: Andy Alfaro, Modesto Bee; Andrew Kuhn, Merced Sun-Star; Johnson. Honorable mention: Kohlruss; Ron Holman, Visalia Times-Delta; Gene Lieb, Los Banos Enterprise.

Best news story – Winners: Price; Rob Parsons, Merced Sun-Star; Myersand Reggie Ellis, Foothills Sun-Gazette. Honorable mention: Amaro; staff, Visalia Times-Delta; Greg Little, Mariposa Gazette.

Best feature story – Winners: Morgen; Parker Bowman, Hanford Sentinel; Greg Little, Mariposa Gazette. Honorable mention: George; Ward; Laura Brown, Enterprise Recorder.

Best sports feature story – Winners: Trevor Horn, Bakersfield Californian; Vongni Yang, Visalia Times-Delta; Shawn Jansen, Los Banos Enterprise. Honorable mention: James Burns, Modesto Bee; Noe Garcia, Hanford Sentinel; Johnson and Jeremiah Martinez, Enterprise Recorder.

Best news/feature photo – Winners: Joan Barnett Lee, Modesto Bee; Andrew Kuhn, Merced Sun-Star; Lieb. Honorable mention: Walker; Ron Holman, Visalia Times-Delta; Little.

The Gruner awards are sponsored by The Bee and the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Fresno State. The judging is done by a group of professional journalists outside the Valley.

The Gruner awards are funded by the Central Valley Foundation and the Central Valley Community Foundation. Each public service category winner receives $200.