'Bay Guardian' honored for PG&E series

CALIFORNIA'S LARGEST NEWSPAPER association recognized the Bay Guardian's coverage of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. scandal with a first-place award for public service, it was announced June 28. The award, in the California Newspaper Publishers Association's Better Newspapers Contest, honored a series of stories and editorials published in 2002 showing how PG&E steals low-cost power from the city and how public power would bring consumers lower rates and bolster the local economy.

The Bay Guardian also won a first-place award in the best editorial category for "The Case Against War," which opposed the invasion of Iraq. We won second-place honors for best editorial page, best writing (for "Kimiko's Burden," a report by Melissa Houston on the San Francisco public defender's race), and best freedom of information coverage (for our 16th annual FOI issue).

The awards were in the large-circulation weekly papers category. They were announced at the association's annual convention, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.