Staff Writer Justin Scacco brought home a first-place honor from the California Journalism Awards Saturday, hosted by the California News Publishers Association May 4 in Long Beach.

Scacco was the winner in the best Sports Feature Story category for his work on “‘How fast can I go?’ Hall of Fame welcomes speed skiing legend Steve McKinney.” McKinney, an iconic figure in Lake Tahoe skiing, was inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame.

McKinney died the night of Nov. 10, 1990, when he pulled his car over to the side of the road to catch some sleep during a trip to San Francisco from Southern California. While in the back seat, a drunk driver veered off the road and struck his vehicle. He was 37 years old.

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Staff Writer Hannah Jones took second place for Coverage of Local Government. Her story “Campaign concerns: Truckee Airport directors question large donations to fellow directors,” reported on a controversy raised with the Truckee Tahoe Airport District board over campaign finance disclosures in late October, just ahead of the 2018 election of board members.

Two board members said they were concerned with the appearance of a conflict of interest due to the timing of two large donations to a pair of incumbent board members by the owner of an aviation company that had business with the district. Earlier this month, the topic was raised again for discussion of a potential new disclosure policy among board members.

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“This is a classic example of journalism doing what it’s meant to do: provide facts to combat vitriol,” a judge wrote.

Jones and Scacco competed in the Weekly Division of newspapers in similar circulation size of the annual competition.