A distressing design of cardboard roofs and plywood floors hunched and cramped beneath the majestic backdrop of San Francisco’s glossy high-rise apartments, sparkling condominiums, and million-dollar homes are captured in Balitang America’s documentary, Box City. It is also an encampment that many homeless in the community call home.
Box City won 1st place, besting AJ+, in the TV/Video Documentary category of San Francisco Press Club’s 41st Annual Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards. The team behind Box City—producer/writer Henni Espinosa, director of photography Jeremiah Ysip, cameraman Patrick Luna, editor Jon Santos, and graphic designer Mike Carrion were awarded certificates of excellence for their notable work.
The San Francisco Press Club presented certificates of excellence to various individuals and news organizations at the awards banquet, held at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront. The yearly event honors the outstanding work of Bay Area print, TV, radio and digital media journalists, graphic designers, and photographers, as well as the work of documentary filmmakers.
The mission of the San Francisco Press Club is to encourage excellence in journalism by providing training, grants, scholarships, and recognition for professionals and students in the Greater Bay Area. Their mission is driven by the belief in the First Amendment, integrity in reporting and the essential role of journalism in a democracy.
Tim Redmond, SF Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, emphasized the importance of the job when he said in his speech that “Democracy cannot survive without journalists.”
San Francisco Press Club outgoing president Antonia Ehlers expressed her gratitude to the journalists and media practitioners “for all that you do to make the Bay Area a better place, and for inspiring our residents with your thoughtful stories, photography, digital media, graphic design and more.”
This year’s winners were judged by the press clubs of San Diego, Cleveland, Orange County, Florida, New Orleans, and Milwaukee.