Gazette once again takes home top prize during journalism awards event

For the second year in a row — and fourth in the last eight years — the Mariposa Gazette took top honors in a journalism awards competition involving news outlets throughout the Central Valley and foothills.

“I think this shows just how important it is for local newspapers to be watchdogs for the community and how that work can make a difference for the people,” said Nicole W. Little, publisher of the newspaper.

The event was held last week at Fresno State University.

It was the 38th annual George F. Gruner Awards, named in honor of the late newspaperman from Fresno who spent time in jail for refusing to reveal his sources in a major story about local government. He went on to have a storied career at the Fresno Bee, including being a longtime editor of the newspaper.

Gruner died at the age of 99 and attended his last awards ceremony just two years ago, at that age, in 2024. His son, Richard Gruner, was in attendance at the ceremony last week and it was announced he has created an endowment to ensure the awards continue in the future.

The competition is presented annually by Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust, Department of Media, Communications and Journalism and the James B. McClatchy Foundation.

The Gazette took the “Public Service” award in the category for weekly and small daily newspapers. That is the top award presented each year during the ceremony.

The award was given for the newspaper’s coverage of the Mariposa County District Attorney, which resulted in the resignation of former DA Mike McAfee after information was obtained by the Gazette that he was allegedly buying methamphetamine from a drug dealer in Merced.

Winning the award were publisher/owner Nicole W. Little, editor/owner Greg Little and staff writer Tom Lyden, who at the time, was working on a contract basis for the newspaper because of the DA story. He is now a full-time reporter for the newspaper.

The reason he was brought on at the time is the newspaper was involved in the story. After receiving the information from the drug dealer, the decision was made to take the information to law enforcement because there was evidence of a possible crime.

That put the newspaper in the middle of the story and was why the decision was made to bring in Lyden to write many of the stories related to the case.

There were 13 stories and one editorial submitted in the contest.

Judges for the contest were James Risen, a retired New York Times national intelligence reporter and Jim Newton, a UCLA instructor and former Los Angeles Times assistant editor.

The case involving McAfee began when Greg Little received a phone call from a man in Merced who claimed he had repeatedly sold methamphetamine to McAfee. In less than a half hour from that phone call, provided evidence to back up his claim.

In his judging, Risen said it was a “reporter’s dream phone call” and Newton said the journalists followed it up with “solid, aggressive (and) readable” reporting.

One issue many at the ceremony as well as the judges were curious about is why the newspaper decided to take the evidence to law enforcement rather than just publish what they had and let it unfold in that manner.

Greg Little said they weighed that decision overnight before deciding they felt there was possible evidence of a crime and informing law enforcement would be the best way to proceed.

The following morning, a meeting was held with Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese and the evidence was given to him.

By the next Monday, McAfee had announced his resignation, though how that unfolded remains an open issue to this day.

The story then evolved into the appointment of former and now current DA Walter Wall into the position.

Many parts of the story continue to be an issue and McAfee has never been charged with any crime. He is advertising that he practices law in Merced, where he has lived the entire time, even while he was the DA in Mariposa County.

Two other awards

The Gazette also received two other awards.

Staff writer Amanda White received a first place award in sports photography for her photo during a flag football game. The photo showed players in mid-air while playing the game.

In addition, Greg and Nicole Little received an honorable mention award in the “Best Commentary” category for weekly and small daily newspaper. That was for their editorial related to “excessive secrecy” by county officials during the McAfee situation.

Many other awards were handed out during the, including several that went to newspapers owned by the Mineral King Publishing group. That group prints the Mariposa Gazette each week.

The Gazette won the same top prize last year for its coverage of the local SPCA controversy. It has also won the top award for coverage of area wildfires as well as for a series of stories focusing on entry fees at Yosemite National Park.

All four of those top awards have been since 2018, the year after the Littles purchased the newspaper. The newspaper had never won a Gruner award previously.