Start the Presses: Ladies and gentleman, your award-winning Register and Star!

Dan Evans

Dan Evans

One of the more curious aspects of the practice of journalism is the tension between its public and private sides.

On the one hand, mayors, high-level elected officials and powerful people of all stripes feel compelled to talk to you, to give their side of whatever controversy may be roiling the general populace at that particular moment.

On the other, that fame - such that it is - is largely limited to people who are usually far better known than the reporters, editors and photographers they interact with. To most everyone else, journalists are fairly anonymous, a byline we can only be sure our relatives notice. Sometimes not even them.

And, if you happen to be an editor of some stripe - overseeing the coverage, checking facts and grammar, making sure the website and social media channels are clean, accurate and useful - well, my friend, you are really unknown outside of your peers.

Tree Lighting

A member of Folklorico Quetzali watches her breath in the cold nighttime air before her dance troupe performed at the annual Napa tree lighting ceremony in Veterans Memorial Park on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

Most of us like it that way.

I don't have scientific proof of this, but my guess is that most journalists are omniverts: extroverted when the situation calls for it, introverted when we need to disappear into our hidey-holes, put on the headphones, and be pure wordsmiths and artists for a bit.

But it's this time of year that journalists statewide get to unabashedly bask in the light. The California News Publishers Association awards came out earlier this month, and the staffs of the Napa Valley Register and St. Helena Star did well. Really, really well.

Specifically: This year we received 31 honors across 19 categories - our best showing in at least a decade.

Pickett Fire

A helicopter drops water on the Pickett Fire on Thursday, Aug. 21.

The full list is below, with one small note: because the Register and Star compete in different circulation divisions, you'll see more than one first- or second-place award in a few categories.

I am particularly proud of the depth of the work recognized, which goes across a truly wide variety of topics and disciplines. This includes a dozen photography honors, all going to our extraordinarily talented staff photographer, Nick Otto, who brought in five first-place awards on his own. In fact, he probably would have gotten more if he wasn't competing against himself - nearly running the table in two separate categories.

Connolly Ranch 3

Young campers share a moment while playing at Connolly Ranch in Napa on Tuesday, July 8.

Other first-place awards went to Jennifer Huffman for her coverage of the local business scene; Roberto Tinoco for his editorial cartooning; Jesse Duarte for his in-depth reporting on St. Helena's unfunded pension issue, as well as his coverage of an octogenarian's debut album; and Lauren A. Spates for her richly reported three-part series on the complaints, cost and turmoil that led to the ouster of former Calistoga City Manager Laura Snideman.

But beyond the blue ribbons, the Register and Star were recognized for fine arts writing, profiles, environmental reporting, columns - including work by Managing Editor Samie Hartley and me - and even our community calendar.

The Register received fifth place in General Excellence, while the Star earned third place in its division, meaning your local newspapers were judged among the best in the entire state.

Screwtrap 9

A California Roach is swims in a viewing box after being caught in the rotary screw trap on the Napa River.

And let me take this moment to also thank you for believing in us, for reaching out with your story ideas, and for sharing your thoughts, opinions and day-to-day lives with us.

It is truly an honor.

General Excellence

3rd: St. Helena Star

5th: Napa Valley Register

Artistic Photo

1st: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Folklorico Quetzali"

2nd: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "The Wall That Heals"

4th: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Autism Acceptance Walk"

5th: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Chateau Barber Shop"

Columns

2nd: Napa Valley Register, Dan Evans, "Start the Presses"

4th: Napa Valley Register, Samie Hartley, "Rough Draft"

Community Calendar

4th: Napa Valley Register, Samie Hartley, "Napa Valley Register Community Calendar"

Coverage of Business and the Economy

1st: Napa Valley Register, Jennifer Huffman, "Tariffs, slow tourism, tough year: Napa shops push into holiday mode"

Editorial Cartoon

1st: Napa Valley Register, Roberto Tinoco, "Tariffs pack a punch"

2nd: Napa Valley Register, Roberto Tinoco, "Napa County tackles rooster nuisances"

Environment Reporting

5th: Napa Valley Register, Barry Eberling, "Here's a visitor that Napa County dreads: the golden mussel"

Feature Photo

1st: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Summer Camp"

Film and TV Writing/Reporting

3rd: Napa Valley Register, Sarah Dowling, "Culinary legends Thomas Keller, Alice Waters and Jamie Oliver talk ‘Chef's Table' in Napa"

Fine Arts Writing/Reporting

2nd: Napa Valley Register, Sarah Dowling, "Napa Quake Mosaic made up of broken pieces from natural disasters debuts"

2nd: St. Helena Star, Jesse Duarte, "West Side Story" series

In-Depth Reporting

1st: Napa Valley Register, Lauren A. Spates, "Inside the complaints and cost of Laura Snideman's turbulent tenure in Calistoga"

1st: St. Helena Star, Jesse Duarte, "‘A financial albatross': St. Helena wrestles with unfunded pension obligations"

5th: Napa Valley Register, Howard Yune, "How a 1979 crash opened the way to murder charges for drunken driving"

Music Writing/Reporting

1st: St. Helena Star, Jesse Duarte, "St. Helena's Terminello releases debut album at age 87"

Photo Story/Essay

1st: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "A rotary screw trap monitors Napa River fish"

4th: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "25th Annual Napa Valley Girls Classic"

Photojournalism

1st: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "The Year in Photos 2025"

Profile Story

3rd: Napa Valley Register, Jennifer Huffman, "Napa animals, big and small, get a hand from nonprofit CART"

Sports Action Photo

4th: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Basketball"

Tourism/Travel Writing/Reporting

2nd: Napa Valley Register, Barry Eberling, "Napa County's Highway 128 has scenery, but no state scenic signs"

Wildfire Photo

1st: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Pickett Fire"

2nd: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Pickett Fire family"

3rd: Napa Valley Register, Nick Otto, "Pickett Fire firefighters"

Writing

4th: Napa Valley Register, Howard Yune, "Brewing trust: Coffee with a Cop links Napa law enforcement to residents"

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