The Ark wins 21 state awards, recognized for general excellence

The Ark has been named among the state’s best small newspapers, winning 21 California Journalism Awards for its coverage of the Tiburon Peninsula in 2025. The honors included a second-place finish for general excellence — first among print newspapers in its division — and three first-place awards for community calendar, film and TV writing and sports feature writing.

The awards were announced by the California News Publishers Association, the nonprofit trade association that represents more than 700 newspapers across the state, online over several days June 16-22.

The Ark, which has about 2,300 subscribers, generally competes in Division 7 against other printed newspapers with circulations of 4,300 or fewer that publish three or fewer times per week. It also competes against online publications with 199,000 or fewer unique monthly visitors.

• General excellence: The Ark won second place overall in Division 7 and was the top-finishing print newspaper in the category.

• Sports feature story: Tiburon reporter Francisco Martinez won first place for his profile of a Tiburon man who found a second chance through running after his release from prison.

• Film and TV writing and reporting: Calendar and copy editor Diana Goodman won first place for her article on the most anticipated films of 2026.

• Community calendar: Goodman also won first place for the entertainment calendar in the ArkBeat section.

• Labor reporting: Martinez won second place for his reporting on the controversial termination of a popular librarian.

• Photojournalism: The Ark won second place based on images captured by contributing photographers Leo Leung, Ted McDonnell, Tyler Callister and Clara Lu, along with Martinez.

• Informational graphic: Executive Editor Kevin Hessel won second, third and fourth place for, respectively, a graphic on crime in Tiburon and Belvedere, unique cocktail recipes from Tiburon Tommie’s and a graphic on Caltrans bike lanes.

• Best newsletter: The Ark won second place.

• Breaking news: Hessel and former Belvedere reporter Naomi Friedland won third place for their coverage of the arrest in Denver of a man in connection with a 2023 armed robbery in Tiburon — and the Police Department's inconsistent narratives of the incident.

• Immigration reporting: Martinez won fourth place for his article on Tiburon’s decision not to cooperate with ICE amid a federal crackdown.

• Arts and entertainment coverage: Martinez won fourth place for his story on a Town Hall exhibit featuring art from a Marin City collective.

• Tourism and travel writing and reporting: The Ark’s Travel Bug, longtime contributor Marybeth Bond-Sheppard, won fourth place for her article on truffle hunting in Provence and fifth for a piece on exploring Yosemite’s high country.

• Writing: Martinez won fifth place for his article on a bartender’s daughter who unearthed the lost cocktail recipes of Tiburon Tommie’s.

• Print inside page layout and design: Hessel won second place for the spring Home edition and third place for the fall Home edition.

• Print front-page layout and design: Hessel won third place for the Ark’s front pages.

• Print special section: The Ark won third place for The Spirit of Generosity.

• Print special-section cover: Hessel won fifth place for the Ark’s special-section covers.

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