The industry gathered Sunday night at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, and Variety absolutely cleared the room. The trade publication took home 16 first-place trophies at the 68th annual Southern California Journalism Awards, an event hosted by the Los Angeles Press Club.
They honestly had the math on their side from the start. Variety walked into the ceremony carrying an industry-leading 100 overall nominations covering everything from print and digital news to podcasting and social media.
When it came to the critical beats, the publication locked down the major categories. Jem Aswad won for music criticism. Owen Gleiberman secured the film criticism prize for pieces under 1,000 words. Aramide Tinubu took the TV criticism award, capping off a highly successful run for their reviews team.
On the reporting side, Selome Hailu won the feature writing category for pieces under 1,000 words. That specific award recognized a story detailing Planned Parenthood’s collaboration with creatives like Lena Dunham. Brent Lang also added to the final tally, winning for a film and broadcast-related online feature.