The Monterey Herald was recently honored in several categories of the 2024 California Journalism Awards.

The annual awards are sponsored by the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association, a nonprofit trade association representing more than 400 newspapers, including daily, weekly, monthly and campus publications.

Herald reporters garnered honors in several individual categories among daily newspapers with print circulations of 15,000 and under.

Arianna Nalbach’s story, “A mission to inspire and educate,” about Monterey Bay Aquarium Founder Julie Packard, won first place in the Profile Story category. Nalbach also took second in the Feature Story competition with “Behind the scenes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium,” about the work it takes to keep Monterey’s most popular attraction going. Both stories were from The Herald’s series about the Aquarium’s 40th anniversary.

The Herald’s reporting and editing team of Nalbach, Managing Editor David Kellogg, reporters Kyarra Harris and Andrea Valadez, along with correspondents James Raia, Lisa Crawford Watson and Mason Bloom, were awarded second place in the Arts & Entertainment Coverage category for coverage of Classic Car Week, the annual series of automotive events held on the Monterey Peninsula in August, culminating in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Kellogg also won fourth place in the Feature Story category for his piece “The dawning of the ‘Age of Aquarium’” on the opening day of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Valadez won fourth place in the Coverage of Youth and Education category for her story “Monterey County schools continue to struggle with declining enrollment.”

“It’s particularly gratifying to see us honored for team efforts, such as the Classic Car Week coverage and the Aquarium series,” Kellogg said. “Great individual efforts, but also a testament to people making sacrifices and coming together for big picture coverage.

“It’s also great to see young, homegrown talent doing well, as Nalbach and Valadez are both recent Cal State Monterey Bay graduates.”