CalMatters is being honored with nine Northern California journalism awards, including for best investigative, explanatory, health and environmental reporting. The organization also garnered three photojournalism awards and its first-ever honors for commentary.

Additionally, Senior Director of Product Sapna Satagopan was named an “unsung hero” — a distinction that celebrates someone “whose contribution to journalism usually happens behind the scenes and is often overlooked.”

The awards, announced Wednesday, were given by the Society of Professional Journalists’  Northern California chapter. They’ll  be given out, and judges’ comments released, at the chapter’s Nov. 15 awards banquet.

Satagopan was cited as a “visionary leader” behind CalMatters’ Digital Democracy tool, Recall Voter Guide, newsletters and explainers. She also founded Xyza: News for Kids, a subscription news platform for young readers.

“I am so grateful to be honored for my work that connects critical news and information with the people of California,” Satagopan said. “I love the opportunity we are provided in journalism product design to make a difference in the world, to empower people, to hold leaders accountable, and to ultimately improve the community.”

The commentary award goes to CalMatters’ California Voices Editor Yousef Baig for his piece “From ‘train to nowhere’ to Fresno’s dream: What high-speed rail means for the Central Valley.”

“My main goal with this piece was to flip the conversation on high-speed rail so readers could hear from people who live and work in the Central Valley. This kind of approach is at the heart of the Voices mission. For that to be recognized, it’s incredibly gratifying” Baig said.

Here are CalMatters other award wins, in the print/online large division:

• INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: Nigel Duara and Jeremia Kimelman for the three-part series “Locked up and Dying” about jail deaths in California.
• EXPLANATORY JOURNALISM: Lauren Hepler for “California’s Unemployment Crash” — part 1, part 2 and part 3. 
• ENVIRONMENT REPORTING: Rachel Becker for “The world’s largest dam demolition has begun. Can the dammed Klamath River finally find salvation?”
• HEALTH REPORTING: Kristen Hwang, Ana B. Ibarra and Erica Yee for “No Deliveries,” a series on maternity ward closures around California.
• PHOTOJOURNALISM (breaking news): Jules Hotz  for a photo of a pro-Palestinian protester being arrested after being surrounded by police officers at the University of Southern California.
• PHOTOJOURNALISM (photo essay): Larry Valenzuela, who is also a Catchlight fellow,  for “‘Go to the people’: Street medicine teams bring health care to the unhoused.”
• PHOTOJOURNALISM (single image): Jules Hotz for a photo of Screen Actors Guild members and Writers Guild of America members picketing at the Amazon Culver Studios in Culver City. 

And, CalMatters contributor Alastair Bland won science reporting honors for his Bay Nature piece on California’s bull kelp forests.

Here’s the full list of NorCal SPJ’s 2024 winners from newspapers, online news sites, radio and television stations across Northern California.

Our team is dedicating every ounce of energy to bring the 2024 CalMatters Voter Guide to more Californians than ever before.

Be it first-time voters, Californians who speak Chinese or Korean as their native language, or radio listeners, we’re striving to be a nonpartisan guide for people across the state.

“We’re not telling you how to vote, or even whether to vote at all. We are trying to help as many Californians as possible to make an informed choice between candidates and on ballot measures,” said CalMatters Politics Editor Foon Rhee. He has been leading the powerful journalism behind our Voter Guides since he joined CalMatters in 2021, and he has covered every election – local, statewide or presidential – since 1984.

The setup: Reporters, editors, designers and engineers pushed through the heat of summer to bring you our trusted, nonpartisan guide asap.

We began publishing voter resources in July and the whole guide was up by Labor Day.

Since then: Our team has been adapting the guide to reach (and literally engage) as many California voters as possible. Below, we’re offering a look at that work.

And please: Take a moment today to share our guide. Readers have told us that because it’s nonpartisan, they’ve shared it with family, friends, neighbors, congregations and classrooms.

You can share our guide in English, Spanish, Chinese or Korean, and you can also print out a PDF for people who prefer a physical guide. 

“We’re not only trying to put the voter guide in front of every Californian. We’re also trying to make sure it’s in a language they’re most comfortable speaking, in a format that feels really natural to them, and that the information is shared in a way that makes the most sense to them,” said CalMatters and The Markup Chief Impact Officer Sisi Wei.

In-print, in-person, in a quiz and now in a filter

CalMatters partnerships manager Dan Hu has been driving across the state for weeks to bring our nonpartisan guide, printed props quizzes and Props-in-a-Minute videos to California voters this fall.

“People want to connect over these really serious issues facing our state – with wine,” said Anna Almendrala, CalMatters audience engagement manager. “Dan’s events are a great opportunity for all of us to go outside and touch grass instead of getting our biases confirmed on social media.”

• Filter me informed: You don’t have to limit the time you spend on TikTok in order to stay informed and prepare to vote. Just use our fun new filters – try out each one to “vote” with head tilts based on quick questions and the filter will reveal your possible stance on each prop. Plus, it’s the best way to be an influencer – let’s make informed voting the new meme.
• Also on the tok: What do you get when you take our loved Props-in-a-Minute videos and add our amazing intern, Jenna Peterson? You get some fun, prop-breakdown vertical videos for TikTok and Reels.
• Props in print: Our printable PDFs make it fun (well, at least way more fun than reading the sometimes 300-page voter information guide) to learn about each proposition up for your vote.
• We made a zine: Speaking of fun, designer Gabe Hongsdusit turned our guide into a colorful zine. The issues are being mailed out soon (and distributed to little free libraries).

Localizing your ballot guide

Wouldn’t it be nice to just find all the information on what’s up for your vote this fall in one location? Yeah, we thought so too. And that’s why our data team worked extra on a new feature called “See what’s on your local ballot.”

We saw an opportunity to build a sample local ballot for readers when Voter’s Edge, a collaboration between MapLight and the League of Women Voters, was discontinued. We directly collected data from all 58 counties, then cleaned and shaped it into something useful to readers.

“It was a huge undertaking, and it’s a great first step toward making a comprehensive sample ballot,” said John Osborn D’Agostino, CalMatters Data and interactives editor.

• Address-based lookup: Simply type in your address and the tool will show the state and local races and measures on your ballot. Plus, the lookup tool can be embedded on partner sites in multiple languages.
• Extensive coverage: The tool includes 718 local measures and nearly 975 races, featuring nearly 2,500 candidates from local communities.
• Focused info: The tool includes city, county and supervisorial races but does not include regional, school and special district races such as Board of Education races or school bonds.

On the air, on TV and in libraries

Sometimes we just need a break from the internet. We’ve been working with partners across the state to inform viewers, listeners and library patrons.

“I’m proud that our audio department can help public radio listeners all over the state better understand their ballots. It also means a lot to me that we can offer smaller stations with less resources statewide election coverage they can depend on to bridge coverage gaps while they focus on issues in their own regions,” said Mary Franklin-Harvin, CalMatters audio editor.

“It’s been great to be able to bring CalMatters stories to television and reach an even bigger audience. Video on these platforms goes a long way and helps us explain policy and share the voices of those who are impacted by it,” said Robert Meeks, CalMatters director of video strategy.

• On the radio: We made audio versions of our Props-in-a-Minute videos to share with our public radio partners across the state. We have explainers on every statewide ballot proposition airing on stations from the Imperial Valley all the way up to the Oregon border. To ensure radio quality audio, we took our professional recording gear to our reporters — sometimes taping in reporters’ closets while we crossed our fingers that curious pets would stay quiet. Other times, using a blanket we borrowed from our colleague’s desk for makeshift insulation when we recorded in the office.
• On TV: We partnered with PBS SoCal to bring our proposition guides to Angelenos every day at 5:58 p.m. on TV and in the PBS SoCal app.
• In libraries: Our partnership (and sponsorship by) the California State Libraries means colorful posters in libraries across the state feature our online Voter Guide via QR code.

A guide for more Californians

We’ve worked harder than ever this election to think about how to make our Voter Guide work for more people. Our first step? To fully acknowledge the diversity of California voters. The second step? To think about how we can make our guide meet the needs of the largest swath of people in the state.

“Californians don’t all speak, read or think in the same ways and effective voting information has to meet people where they are. That’s why we’re offering our full Voter Guide in more languages and writing styles than ever before. If English isn’t your first language or you prefer election material that uses simple wording with more explanations, we have options that can fit your needs,” said Ramsey Isler, director of special projects at CalMatters and The Markup.

Simplified language guides:

• Using plain text: We’ve taken our oft-noted easy-to-understand guide and made it even easier. Our Simplified Language Voter Guides in English and Spanish offer a plain-text way to learn about what’s on the ballot free of jargon and even including a glossary for key election terms.
• Quick and complete: We’re offering a Complete Guide that comes in at 80 pages (which is a lot, but thorough) and a Quick Guide option (drilled down to 25-must-read, scannable pages).
• Use: Teachers and community organization leaders shared that our guide was useful in helping share nonpartisan election information. These guides are intended to make that even easier. We hope that you’ll consider sharing these with your community today. We also offer a Teacher’s Guide for educators. Download them here.

Translations and online accessibility:

• Beyond English: We offered our Voter Guide in Spanish for the first time in 2022. Now we’re also offering our guide in Chinese and Korean. Please let us know if you would like to help share or use these guides with an email.
• Accessibility: Our online guide and PDFs inspired by the guide are all made to be accessible to people with various abilities.

Sisi Wei was honored as the 2024 Freedom of the Press Rising Star by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Wednesday.

The award honors a rising journalist, media lawyer, or organization that has made great strides in defending freedom of the press or who has conquered significant roadblocks in the course of telling an important story. Sisi was editor-in-chief of The Markup and is now chief impact officer of the newly combined organization of CalMatters and The Markup.

“This year’s honorees embody the tenacity, commitment, and courage that underpin a free press,” said Stephen J. Adler, chair of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Across journalism and the law, their work shows us the true power of the First Amendment to make informed democracy a reality.”

The committee noted Sisi’s ability for “empowering her journalism colleagues for years, whether it was overseeing editorial teams at ProPublica to produce investigations that served the public interest; her leadership at OpenNews and the DEI Coalition to foster a more anti-racist and equitable journalism industry; or her current role at CalMatters and The Markup, where she is developing new ways for journalism to drive positive change.” Sisi accepted the award at the Oct. 16 ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.

“Joining The Markup two years ago gave me the opportunity to try and build out a journalistic mission that’s centered deliberately and clearly around impact,” Sisi said. “Impact, which we define as tangible improvements in people’s quality of life, and as journalism that restores people’s sense of agency, and does not further feelings of hopelessness. In the last two years, we did just that.”

“I think Sisi is a quiet revolutionary. She’s not a person who will be out there championing her own work. The way she affects change is by equipping other people to do it,” Nabiha Syed, The Markup’s former CEO, said when the committee asked her about Sisi’s honor. “[Her] work is about amplifying the best of what is around to tell the truth in the most comprehensive way.” Nabiha was the committee’s inaugural Rising Star Award recipient in 2018 when she was a media lawyer at Buzzfeed News. She is now executive director of the Mozilla Foundation.

The Markup, under Sisi’s leadership, was recognized as the best small digital newsroom in the world by the Online News Association earlier this year. And Sisi’s role as the chief impact officer of the CalMatters and The Markup allows her to now bring her impact strategy to the nearly 100-person organization, and forge new ways for journalism to be actionable, serve communities and drive real-world impact.

“Earlier this year, CalMatters and The Markup joined forces — becoming one newsroom, doing work that holds the powerful accountable, whether ‘the powerful’ means California legislators or tech companies,” Sisi said. “Now, as the Chief Impact Officer, I get the privilege of focusing even more on how our work as journalists can have greater impact. I really can’t wait to see what we’ll have done in a year.”

This impact model pioneered by Sisi helps “people understand how to take action,” said Jeremy Gilbert, Medill’s Knight Professor in Digital Media Strategy.

“It’s a very different kind of journalism, but it’s not at all surprising given the nature of Sisi’s character. About her desire to change things for the better, not just tell the stories, but help the community improve itself.”

Previously, Sisi was co-executive director of OpenNews and founder of the DEI Coalition, a journalism community dedicated to sharing knowledge and taking concrete action in service of a more anti-racist, equitable and just journalism industry. She was assistant managing editor at ProPublica from 2018 to 2020, where she oversaw three editorial teams focused on news apps, interactive storytelling and visual investigations. She also managed large, interdisciplinary investigations across the newsroom, one of which won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2020. In 2021, the International Women’s Media Foundation awarded Sisi the Gwen Ifill Award, which recognizes an outstanding woman journalist of color whose work carries forward Ifill’s legacy, especially by serving as a role model and mentor for young journalists.

The other 2024 Freedom of the Press award recipients include: Stephen Paul Engelberg, Editor-in-Chief at ProPublica; Maria Hinojosa, Founder and President at Futuro Media; Josie Huang, Reporter at LAist; and Mazin Sidahmed, Co-Founder at Documented.

The Markup, now a part of CalMatters, has won first place for general excellence among small newsrooms while CalMatters was a finalist for general excellence among medium-sized newsrooms in the 2024 Online News Awards.

In each size category, ONA’s general excellence award “honors a digitally focused news organization that successfully fulfills its editorial mission, effectively serves its audience, maximizes the use of digital tools and platforms and represents the highest journalistic standards.” 

Winners were announced Friday at the Online News Association’s conference in Atlanta.

CalMatters’ excellence honor

CalMatters was a finalist for general excellence in online journalism, medium-sized newsrooms. Congratulations to our fellow finalists, The Marshall Project and The Texas Tribune, and to the winning newsroom, ProPublica.

CalMatters was recognized for work that includes:

Our unprecedented new Digital Democracy project which deploys AI, bots and data scrapers to demystify state government: It collects transcripts and video of every word spoken in a public meeting, six categories of financial giving, each bill introduced and vote cast, every supporter and opponent, every lobbyist and interest group, and more. We’re sharing this resource with journalists who admire the stories it’s enabling us to produce — of the past million votes cast by California legislators, Democrats voted “no” less than 1% of the time. This CBS piece explains why Digital Democracy is a “game changer.”

Our dissection of California’s unparalleled pandemic-era unemployment fiasco: The state sent tens of billions of dollars to scammers while denying the claims of desperate workers who lost stability, homes, even their lives. We found workers on Facebook, Reddit, Telegram, and from more than 500 responses to our online survey. Our calculator invited readers to see how long they’d need to work to earn what the state lost to pandemic unemployment fraud (for someone earning $80,000 a mere 250,000 years.)

A California wildfire tracker that tracks real-time flare ups and highlights historical trends. The map visualizes active large fires using points and fire perimeter shapes, while a time-lapse shows historical wildfire burn areas from 1900 forward, and illustrates the costs in dollars and lives.

When California became the first state to recommend reparations to Black people for the harms of slavery and discrimination we responded with a multimedia card deck explainer to resolve debates over facts, such as whether slavery had existed in California, and to hold ducking lawmakers accountable. We built a customizable tool so people could see what might be owed them, and a Google form solicited questions for additional coverage. State commission members cited our work to explain theirs; the chairperson touted our calculator.

And our reporting documented an accelerating trend of California hospitals shuttering or suspending maternity wards. When we initially published, in 12 counties, no hospitals delivered babies — and our Census tract analysis showed Latino and low-income communities hit hardest. To enhance this story, we interactively mapped gap areas, constructed a sortable table of ward/hospital closures, and embedded unfurlable cards rich with Digital Democracy detail about key legislators — plus a clickable link to email them. Now they’re citing our story as they pursue a legislative fix.

The Markup wins general excellence, small newsroom

Judges said The Markup’s work was: “Outstanding, actionable journalism that given the subject manner could not have come at a more consequential moment.”

Sisi Wei, editor-in-chief of The Markup from 2022-24 and now CalMatters chief impact officer, accepted the award.

“The Markup is getting this award for the very first time and it is so exciting. …I am very, very proud of our entire team,” Wei said.

“We are very well known for how we do our data-driven reporting and our software-driven reporting,” Wei said. “We’ve managed to turn that technical expertise and marry that with making sure that we’re giving people real, impactful and actionable things to do once they read our investigative journalism. How can they make their lives better, how can they change things, what information do they need in order to do that? And are we giving it to them.”

The Markup also won the Gather award for community-centered journalism and also previously won the Excellence in Technology Reporting award, both in the small newsroom category.

CalMatters has been bringing Californians a trusted, nonpartisan Voter Guide since the 2018 election, and this fall, we’re making it more accessible than ever before. 

What’s new this year

🎤 Live & In-Person: We’re heading to libraries, bike depots, restaurants, college campuses, and other community spaces to bring people together across the state to talk about what’s on the ballot this November. Read about our first events and check out our full fall lineup. We’d love to see you at one of them.

📃Props in Print: Inspired by the magazine quizzes from our childhoods, we’ve created one-page quizzes to guide readers on where they stand on each of the propositions this year. These print quizzes are already a hit at our live events, and we’re now making them available to print and share.

We adapted these quizzes from the online version that you can find on our Voter Guide, using brand colors and spot illustrations to make the handouts visually engaging. In addition to translating the prop quizzes into Spanish, Chinese and Korean, we’ve also ensured that the PDFs are accessible to screen reader users. 

⭐ Voter Guide Zines: This allows people without internet access or who prefer reading in print to access a props-focused version of our guide this fall. We’ll be distributing these across the state, and making the free, full PDFs available on our website to share and distribute. Want us to mail you free copies to share with friends and family? Become a sustaining member today.

🎶 Props on Social: To reach younger voters and first-time voters this fall, we’re experimenting with explainer skits that break down the issues on TikTok and Reels. Sometimes, our videos even feature zombies. And the reviews are in: We’re cringe but lowkey lit.

📚 Accessibility: Our guide has been available in English and Spanish, and this fall we’re adding Chinese and Korean versions. We’re also making it easier to use for people with various abilities by building a simplified language version for English learners and others.

Continuing to help voters make informed decisions in 2024

Our guides in 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections and the 2021 recall election have been commended by California voters for being unbiased, clear and easy-to-use, and we’re excited to bring our voter guide to even more people this fall.

“CalMatters is terrific – I always want to be an educated voter and don’t trust the TV ads and countless pieces of mail I get regarding various issues on the ballot. I enjoy your no-nonsense style,” said CalMatters member Diane of Los Altos Hills.

On top of everything new we’re debuting, this year’s Voter Guide will, once again, bring you our existing, trusted ways of informing voters:

• Nonpartisan Guide: Our clear write-ups on candidates (State Senate, State Assembly, U.S. Senate and U.S. House) are nonpartisan, keeping the focus on their stances on issues and drilling down to show their funding sources.
• Props-in-a-Minute Videos: Our award-winning Props-in-a-Minute explainers make it fast and easy to be informed on propositions that can often be confusing and sometimes intentionally misleading for voters.
• See Where You Stand on Props: Our interactive quizzes help you figure out how your views line up with the propositions, from raising minimum wage to rent control expansion, and more.
• FAQs: Our Frequently Asked Questions page includes answers for the most common questions about the Nov. 5 election in California. Still have a question? Ask the CalMatters Politics team.
• Early Ballot Prep: We rolled out our nonpartisan guide to voters as soon as we could. We published our first explainers in mid-July, with all the explainers launched before Labor Day weekend. This helped inform voters a full month ahead of early voting on Oct. 7.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date as we launch special, free events across the state and publish more voter resources, subscribe to our 2024 Election pop-up email list.

And if you value our nonpartisan Voter Guide and election reporting, support our nonprofit newsroom with a tax-deductible gift today. Give online by credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay, or by mailing us a check.

An effort to support robust, independent local press in Los Angeles County will bring new resources to news organizations, including CalMatters. 

The L.A. Local News Initiative, announced today, is a coalition of journalism and philanthropic organizations that aims to increase coverage that enables Los Angeles residents to navigate local life while applying powerful accountability journalism to billions of dollars in government spending.

As part of the initiative, CalMatters will add new journalists dedicated to coverage that serves Angelenos.

“Good journalism builds stronger communities,” said CalMatters CEO Neil Chase. “We’re thrilled to see this support for enhanced local news coverage, and we’re excited to be part of the effort.”

CalMatters’ in-depth, nonpartisan news coverage will remain free-to-read online, and we’ll continue to share it at no cost with more than 250 media partners across the state. This work includes CalMatters’ unique partnership with PBS SoCal, offering two-minute video reports every weekday on the air and on YouTube.

The expansion builds on CalMatters’ current Los Angeles coverage, particularly on issues such as homelessness, education, the environment and justice. CalMatters also informs the region in unique ways, through Jim Newton’s commentary and the AI-powered Digital Democracy database.

 The L.A. Local News Initiative will also operate and support local newsrooms that serve L.A. communities. The new organization will be governed by a board representing local and national leaders in journalism, philanthropy, and business.

Supporting funders represent a cross-section of individuals, local foundations, and national philanthropy, with anchor funding from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Spiegel Family Fund, and the American Journalism Project, as well as support from The Annenberg Foundation, Weingart Foundation, California Community Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, and Jane and Ron Olson.

CalMatters/The Markup recently won two prestigious awards at the Asian American Journalists Association 2024 convention, this year in Austin, Texas. Chief Impact Officer Sisi Wei won the leadership in diversity and solidarity award, and investigative reporter Lam Thuy Vo won the inaugural AAJA-Medill innovator award.  

Judges said, “Sisi Wei is a transformative leader who has turned The Markup into a diverse organization dedicated to having a real-world impact on people’s lives.”

Wei was editor-in-chief of The Markup from 2022-24, and this year, The Markup joined with CalMatters, to build a powerhouse California-rooted nonprofit, independent and nonpartisan news organization. Her honor recognized her past (and continued) trailblazing work in creating journalism with a clear mandate to have real-world impact on people’s lives.

The value of diversity is evident through Wei’s leadership at The Markup, both through how she approached hiring and staffing a diverse newsroom, and how she guided the team in producing thoughtful, award-winning journalism serving historically marginalized communities.

During her first year as editor-in-chief, she redefined The Markup’s hiring practices to be among the most respectful and equitable in the industry. As a result, over the course of 12 months, The Markup’s newsroom staff grew from 39% to 65% journalists of color, and its editorial leadership team grew to 60% women of color.

The Markup’s journalism and mission, under Sisi’s guidance, also transformed from reporting on how technology shapes our lives, to challenging technology to serve the public good, and for its journalism to have a real-world impact.

In addition to The Markup’s major investigations highlighting how people have used technology and algorithms to directly harm students, unhoused people, and anyone suffering from the digital divide, for the first time, The Markup also published stories by community members themselves, amplifying their voice, their perspectives, and the solutions they’ve come up with as a part of multiple investigative packages. 

“Throughout her career, Wei has valued helping fellow journalists of color succeed,” judges said. “She is a longtime mentor of multiple AAJA members—often those who are struggling to find a way to combine journalism, data, and technology—because she wants to pass forward the extraordinary mentorship she received from AAJA past president Paul Cheung.”

Former Markup investigative reporter Lam Thuy Vo was awarded the inaugural AAJA-Medill Innovator Community Award, for her fresh and innovative way of approaching AAPI issues in journalism.

Judges said, “Lam Thuy Vo has pioneered what it means to truly serve the AAPI communities she reports on. Going beyond the journalism itself, Vo used what she learned during her reporting on misinformation in Vietnamese immigrant communities to create a misinformation workshop tailored to that community. After publishing, Vo returned in person to give the workshop. Her journalism not only highlights AAPI issues but also highlights how misinformation coverage has long ignored the specific issues experienced by AAPI communities.”

Vo’s series on the impact of misinformation on the Vietnamese immigrant community, “Languages of Misinformation,” also won the Asian American Journalism Association’s excellence in online/digital journalism engagement award earlier this year.

Judges said the series “brilliantly tackled misinformation on YouTube, hitting home for the Vietnamese and wider AAPI communities. By teaming up with Mai Bui, a 67-year-old YouTuber grandma, and crafting a guide for younger Vietnamese Americans, the work didn’t just tell a story—it gave a platform to real voices and bridged generational gaps. The multi-layered approach to connecting with the audience sets the work apart, making it a standout choice for the category.”

Congratulations too, to all of this year’s AAJA award winners.

CalMatters’ and AAJA continue training high school journalists

CalMatters partnered for a second year with the association on the JCal program, a summer training program for high school journalists. The work is part of CalMatters’ various programs dedicated to advancing youth journalism.

“AAJA is proud to be partnering with CalMatters again for this program’s second year. Last year’s cohort produced incredible work on the impact of climate change and drought on California’s communities, many of which were published by local news outlets. We’re thankful for the AAJA members and local newsrooms who supported JCal students, and we are excited for a second year of developing and training aspiring California journalists,” said AAJA Executive Director Naomi Tacuyan Underwood.

“We are excited to continue working with AAJA to help nurture the careers of these talented young journalists,” said CalMatters Editor-in-Chief Kristen Go. “They help make their communities richer by the stories they tell. Watching their excitement and partnership with their mentors is inspiring and energizing.”

Over five days in mid-June, the 22 students produced stories under the mentorship of 11 professionals and gained first hand experience in reporting on projects themed around California’s next workforce.

This year’s students came to Sacramento from across the state, including Granite Bay, Fresno, San Diego, Atascadero and beyond. Mentors included journalists from The New York Times, KAZU, Berkeleyside and The Desert Sun.

“With CalMatters as a partner and fortified by key mentors, AAJA aims to provide students with the introduction to ethical journalism practices and exposure to newsroom workflow through various curated sessions and activations,” said AAJA Director of Special Initiatives Felicia Chanco “The impact of JCal goes beyond the week we host the cohort in Sacramento. After closely working with the students, it is inspiring to know these students will soon step into their potential of being the next generation of media professionals that are community-responsive and equity-minded.

CalMatters is hitting a milestone as we enter our 10th year of advancing California through free, independent and impactful journalism.

In 2015, not enough journalists were keeping a watchful eye on our elected leaders.

That’s why co-founders Dave Lesher, Simone Coxe and Chris Boskin set out to build a new model for California news. It’s working. Today, CalMatters’ independent and unbiased news holds the powerful to account, provides millions of Californians with trusted information, and inspires transformational impact.

“I am proud of what CalMatters’ journalism has already done: informing 1 in 5 voters in an election, calling out the truth in hard-hitting investigations, and engaging the community every day on core quality-of-life issues,” said CalMatters CEO Neil Chase.

And CalMatters is not slowing down. Here are just some of our plans for this milestone year:

• Our second-ever Ideas Festival will gather politicians, authors, creative thinkers, advocates, and community members for an in-person event even bigger than last year’s.  Save the dates: May 7 and 8, 2025. 
• Expanded accountability journalism that speaks truth to power, made possible by our increasing bench of investigative journalists, expert beat reporters, data journalists and journalism engineers. 
• More impactful CalMatters news now that we’ve joined with The Markup. Our combined force will lead to even sharper journalism that combines the power of digging into data and technology to tell powerful human-centered stories on critical quality-of-life issues.
• Using AI for good and government transparency.  Digital Democracy, our AI-powered, searchable database, gives journalists, civic leaders and all Californians a new superpower: The ability to peel back layers of government. It enables unprecedented insights that have already led to change in the legislature.

“We arrive at our 10-year milestone at a time when we’re doing more than ever to craft and distribute hard-hitting journalism that the community uses for transformational change. I’m so excited to see what we make happen in our next 10 years,” said CalMatters’ new Chief Impact Officer Sisi Wei.

Nine years ago today, CalMatters started publishing journalism to hold officials accountable, reveal unseen community issues and empower Californians.

Our nonprofit newsroom has grown steadily over time, but this year has been especially unique: We added The Markup’s tech-focused team, hosted the inaugural CalMatters Ideas Festival in Sacramento, debuted the government transparency tool Digital Democracy, and started airing on California TV five nights a week through PBS SoCal.

The journalism we published over the past year has been called “powerful, impactful journalism” with “great storytelling and (an) impressive depth of reporting” in awards honoring our investigative projects, while our news team also added a second Northern California Emmy to our awards wall.

“We strive to provide unbiased, nonpartisan reporting to hold the powerful accountable. With our colleagues from the Markup we are now even better positioned to report and investigate the intersection of government, technology and privacy on our lives and in our community” said CalMatters Editor-in-Chief Kristen Go.

The Markup joins CalMatters

Earlier this year, CalMatters announced it was acquiring The Markup, a national, investigative nonprofit newsroom that challenges technology to serve the public good

“The Markup journalists built an incredible news operation that has prompted meaningful change nationwide,” said CalMatters CEO Neil Chase. “I’m excited that our combined news operation is so much more powerful than either of us could have been independently.”

“Both newsrooms have proven track records of creating journalism and tools that are independent, community-driven and give the public superpowers,” said Sisi Wei, The Markup’s Editor-in-Chief, who joined CalMatters as Chief Impact Officer. “We are combining CalMatters, a critical resource to both lawmakers and the public in California, and The Markup, with its standout data- and engineering-driven approach to doing journalism. Just imagine what we can do together.”

Staff of the two organizations came together for a celebratory kickoff at CalMatters first-ever Ideas Festival in early June.

New tools for the public, live events, and ways to reach millions more Californians

In June 2024, the Ideas Festival concept materialized into a two-day live gathering in Sacramento.

The festival examined critical policy issues across climate change, reparations, and transportation, and the conference also explored California’s changing electorate, workforce development opportunities and our homelessness crisis. Speakers included Leon Panetta, Xavier Becerra, Barbara McQuade, Rob Bonta, Betty Yee, Julian Castro, Mike Madrid, and Doug Ose.

Planning is already underway for the 2025 festival, so stay tuned for dates and details. Until then, watch the videos from 2024’s day one and day two.

The groundbreaking transparency tool Digital Democracy debuted in April and has already triggered legislative  impact.

The AI-powered, searchable database brings journalists, civic leaders and all Californians a powerful new way to peel back the layers of government, including every word uttered in public hearings, every dollar given to a politician, every bill introduced and every vote taken.

The database gives the public, journalists, and legislators themselves access to unprecedented insights. After reviewing more than 1 million votes cast by current legislators over the past five years, CalMatters reporters found that Democrats vote “no” less than 1% of the time, prompting complaints that the process appeared to be a rubber stamp. Instead of voting “no,” legislators often kill bills by simply not voting. Critics say that’s how legislators dodge responsibility for tough decisions.

CalMatters teamed up with CBS-TV to show how advocates for fentanyl legislation learned from Digital Democracy that their bills died when legislators declined to vote. “I personally am insulted,” said the mother of a young person who died from a fentanyl overdose. “That is what they signed up for, to represent us.”

CalMatters’ journalism is now reaching millions more Southern Californians on television thanks to our new partnership with PBS SoCal. Our SoCalMatters daily segment includes two-minute updates on a wide range of quality-of-life issues and airs every weeknight on PBS SoCal at 5:58 p.m. and on PBS SoCal Plus at 5:28 p.m., 5:58 p.m. and 10:58 p.m. Episodes are also available on YouTube and in the free PBS app.

We also teamed up with the visual-first journalism organization, CatchLight, to deliver a newsletter, California in Pictures. It offers a free, monthly look behind the lens at the daily lives and extraordinary moments defining California.

Impact and awards

Our journalism has had real-world impact on the lives of Californians. Here are some of most recent examples: 

The state takes steps to start measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of parole programs. After CalMatters revealed that California spent more than $600 million on a parole rehab program but couldn’t say whether it helped participants, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it will begin measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of parole programs as it shrinks the prison population. A request for proposals on the state’s procurement website said that the department has “received one-time funding to measure parole outcomes.”

Legislators held accountable for killing bills by not voting on them. After a CalMatters analysis found that legislators were strategically declining to vote instead of voting no on bills they wanted to kill, Julie Watts of CBS News collaborated with us to tell the story through the eyes of moms who’ve lost a child to fentanyl. 

Assemblymember introduces bill to stop maternity ward closures.  CalMatters’ ongoing coverage of maternity ward closures has detailed the struggles that mothers and hospitals face, with an outsized impact on poor and rural families. Citing our journalism as the inspiration, Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber introduced legislation designed to curb the closures.

State senator starts work on new domestic violence laws. After CalMatters reported on how courts and law enforcement were failing to protect victims of domestic abuse from armed abusers, Senator Catherine Blakespear wrote to the Orange County Register: “…I am working on two bills (Senate Bills 899 & 1002) that expand the proven concepts that have helped Orange County in domestic violence cases to other circumstances involving threats of harm.” She cited CalMatters’ reporting in the opening line of her opinion piece.

Mayor’s office takes action to fulfill a promise to help Black workers get jobs. With many Black workers retiring and a high city job vacancy rate, Los Angeles promised to hire 200 Black trainees through a partnership with the LA Black Worker Center. After CalMatters reported that the partnership was falling short of its goal, Mayor Karen Bass’s office appointed Deputy Mayor Brenda Shockley to work with the center to get 88 people hired quickly.

Journalism from our freshly-forged investigative team is already being recognized with top honors. On July 15, we won first and second place for investigative reporting and first place for in-depth journalism in the California Journalism Awards.

This year, we won our second Emmy award from the Northern California chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for a segment on how California investigates shootings by law enforcement officers of unarmed civilians. The work was produced based on Nigel Duara’s reporting in collaboration with CBS investigative journalist Julie Watts.

CalMatters journalists took home the top two investigative awards, along with first place for in-depth reporting and first place for an email newsletter, at this weekend’s California Journalism Awards. 

Byrhonda Lyons won first place for her investigative reporting on California’s parolee rehabilitation failures, which triggered statewide impact.

The judges described her work as “great storytelling and impressive depth of reporting” and said this: “CalMatters’ rehab investigation by Byrhonda Lyons revealed how a prisoner rehab operator manipulated the very people who came to him for help. Lyons’ work with court records is outstanding.”

Robert Lewis and Wendy Fry won first place for environmental reporting for exposing the ways California dumps toxic waste across state borders. The judges called their work a “well-reported and well-written series of articles that focuses on what could easily have been an overlooked problem.” The reporting was a finalist earlier this year in the Investigative Reporters and Editors awards contest.

Their work also won second place in the investigative category, with these judges’ comments: “This is a great example of explanatory journalism about a potentially dull topic. I wasn’t bored at all as a reader, and even though it was a very long series of stories, it kept me engaged and curious about what’s being dumped in our own landfills.” 

Lauren Hepler won first place for in-depth reporting for her four-part series dissecting the pandemic fiasco in the state’s unemployment system. Read more about how Hepler completed the year-long investigation involving more than 2,500 pages of public records.

The judges described her work this way: “Powerful, impactful journalism done by a single staffer over the course of a year. Truly impressive. It localized a national issue while showing how deserving people suffered while criminals victimized and businesses profited.” In another category, the judges called her work “top-notch” and said she “methodically strips away the chaos and the finger pointing to show how tens of billions of dollars evaporated.”

Lynn La won first place in newsletter writing for the weekday WhatMatters email newsletter. If you don’t already receive it, sign up now!

The reporting awards were shared with many CalMatters journalists who brought the work to life, including: Miguel Gutierrez, Jr., with photography, Adriana Heldiz with illustrations, Jeremia Kimelman with data reporting and Liliana Michelena with web production.

Other CalMatters honors include:

• Alexei Koseff won second place in business and economy reporting for reporting on the cannabis economy. Judges said: “This series gave an in-depth look into how the legalization of the cannabis industry changed things for the key stakeholders. The human elements to the story were presented with empathy balanced with facts and voices from those impacted.” He won first place in the Best of the West awards earlier this year for the same work.
• Marisa Kendall won second place in homelessness reporting for her work contrasting California’s approach to homelessness with what has worked in Texas.
• Ben Christopher won third place for a series of stories on housing and land-use reporting. Said one judge: “I really enjoyed Christopher’s ability to take state/local policy matters and mold them into locally relevant, well-written portraits of how things are playing out on the ground in communities like San Diego and Santa Monica.”
• Julie Cart won third place in environmental reporting for her story, “Harnessing a windfall.” Judges said: “Well-researched articles. Proposed questions that nobody can answer, yet was effective because that is really the whole point of the stories.”
• Rachel Becker won third place in feature reporting for a story examining the world’s largest dam demolition on the Klamath River.
• Gutierrez won third place in news photography for “Gavin Newsom, the sequel: Governor starts second term as leader of liberal America.”
• Nicole Foy won third place in labor reporting for “The hidden cost of California’s hot workplaces: 20,000 job injuries a year.”
• Koseff also won fourth place in public service journalism for “A failure to communicate: California government cuts back press access.”
• Joe Hong and Erica Yee won fourth place in youth and education coverage for “The teacher turnover trap.” Judges said it was “a detailed and well-presented series on the reasons why some schools struggle to hold onto experienced teachers, the effects of high turnover on student achievement and the barriers to solving the problem. The writers ask tough questions of lawmakers in charge.”
• Kristen Hwang, Ana Ibarra and Yee won fourth place in enterprise reporting for their coverage of maternity ward closures that are leaving large stretches of the state without care. Judges said it was “an important topic fleshed out with interviews and data; good graphics, too. Should be held up by readers demanding action.”