Desert Dispatch wins awards for blogs, reporting, and video

The Desert Dispatch’s blogs rank as the best in the Inland Empire, according to media peers.

Desert Dispatch staff took home first and second place in Best Overall Blog in the 2007 Southern California Excellence in Journalism Awards, sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists Inland Southern California chapter.

“Off The I-15,” the Desert Dispatch’s newsroom blog, won first place in the region for its inside look at the newsroom and regular updates and additional reporting on our news coverage. City Editor Aaron Aupperlee and former reporter Jason Smith were named in the award.

“The Editor’s Desk,” Scott Shackford’s blog, won second place for its additional commentary and inside look of Shackford’s editorial process and decisions.

The Desert Dispatch also won awards for its more traditional coverage. Aupperlee also won a second place award for Best Special Project/Package for his three-day report looking at the evolving training of soldiers at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin.

Sports Editor Matthew Peters won a third place award for Best Sports Column for a piece on Major League Baseball’s Players College Scholarship Program.

The Desert Dispatch also won an award for our online video efforts. Aupperlee won a second place award in Best News Story in video for his online coverage of a Route 66 car show.

The awards were announced at a dinner Saturday night in Riverside. Awards were presented in more than 30 print, online, video and radio categories. Winners represented media outlets from San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties.