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CalMatters won five of this year’s Golden State Journalism Awards, for public health reporting, criminal justice reporting, education reporting, courage in journalism and impact in journalism.
The awards are given by the Sacramento Press Club for politics and public policy reporting across the state.
Byrhonda Lyons won for impact in journalism.
The award recognizes “exceptional journalism that holds powerful institutions and/or people accountable for their actions and, by doing so, leads to demonstrable change that benefits Californians.”
Lyons is recognized for her reporting on how the California Department of Motor Vehicles has made millions from auctioned car sales, and kept the money without notifying owners that they were entitled to proceeds. After CalMatters journalism engineer Mohamed Al Elew created an interactive tool for towed vehicle owners to see if their car was sold for a profit, the DMV decided to do the same. According to a CalMatters analysis of DMV data, between 2016 and 2024, the DMV collected more than $8 million in surplus proceeds from nearly 5,300 vehicle auctions. In March, Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Republican from Murrieta, cited Lyons’ reporting when introducing SB 1029, which would require the California Department of Motor Vehicles to “notify vehicle owners when surplus funds from a lien sale may be owed to them.”
Judges wrote, “CalMatters’ Byrhonda Lyons followed the money — or perhaps more accurately followed the state keeping the money — to root out the fact the state’s DMV was keeping funds raised from cars sold at auction beyond the cost of towing. Thanks to good old-fashioned reporting and the Public Records Act, Lyons found out DMV had pocketed more than $8 million that belonged to the cars’ former owners from 2016 to 2024. But CalMatters didn’t stop there. It created a searchable database that the public could use to look up whether they were owed money. As reported, DMV thought it such a good idea that it copied it. Thanks to CalMatters, Californians are getting their money back. This is the definition of public service journalism.”
Sergio Olmos was one of the journalists honored for courage in journalism.
The Press Club judges said this year’s award for “exceptional courage to bring necessary coverage to the public” is presented to “journalists who continued reporting despite being struck, detained, or otherwise targeted while covering protests against federal immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles in 2025.”
The club honored all journalists whose experiences were cited in legal action brought by the Los Angeles Press Club and Status Coup against the Los Angeles Police Department. The lawsuit alleged journalists were targeted despite clearly identifying themselves as members of the press. A court later granted an injunction ordering law enforcement not to interfere with journalists performing their duties.
“This award recognizes the journalists who kept reporting the news with great bravery,” Sacramento Press Club President Ashley Zavala said during the ceremony. “Please join me in honoring their courage — and the role of a free press.”
Olmos, a CalMatters investigative reporter, was included after he was struck in the chest by a crowd-control munition fired by police officers while covering an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. Olmos told The Washington Post that he was wearing a press pass and shooting video of a protest a few blocks from a complex of federal buildings when Los Angeles Police Department officers shot crowd-control munitions at demonstrators. Olmos believes he was hit with a 40 mm sponge grenade.
In the past year, Olmos relentlessly pursued the on-the-ground realities of immigration raids across California. His investigative series shows that immigration agents engaged in a pattern of force and questionable detention, aggressive tactics that courts have said likely violated the constitution, as they moved from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, and then Chicago and Minneapolis.
Anat Rubin won for criminal justice reporting.
Rubin was honored for her investigation, “The Man Who Unsolved a Murder.” The project found that poor people accused of crimes, who account for at least 80% of criminal defendants, are routinely convicted in California without anyone investigating the charges against them. Close to half of California’s 58 counties do not employ any full-time public defense investigators. Among the remaining counties, defendants’ access to investigators fluctuates wildly, but it’s almost always inadequate.
Judges wrote, “This CalMatters package provided a sharp, well-reported and beautifully-written look at the dearth of investigators at public defender’s offices and the consequences for defendants. The package also included a well-reported look at the perils of using flat-fee defense attorneys in lieu of public defenders.”
Joe Garcia was also a finalist in this category for his reporting inside California’s prison system: on the realities of shared cells, and how rehabilitative programming is increasing while the success rate of prisoners found suitable for parole is gradually declining.
Judges wrote, “This CalMatters package offered insightful reporting and writing about problems with California’s parole system, as well as the physical risks of housing people in shared cells.”
Jocelyn Wiener, Marisa Kendall and Erica Yee won for public health reporting.
These CalMatters journalists joined together for an 8-part series examining the realities of California’s CARE Court program – a program to allow families or first responders to petition courts for care on behalf of someone with severe mental illness and empowers judges to order treatment in some cases.
Judges wrote: “CalMatters’ reporters Jocelyn Wiener, Marisa Kendall and Erica Yee left no stone unturned in Courting Disappointment, an 8-part series that both explains and viscerally demonstrates why Governor Newsom’s ambitious CARE Court program has failed to deliver. Through rigorous data collection, point-by-point analysis of the legislative process and deep interviews with affected individuals, family members, court, state and county officials, the reporters captured the exhausting and heartwrenching experiences of parents trying to get their mentally ill family members off the streets and into psychiatric treatment, as well as the courts’ legal limitations to follow through on these petitions. Most compelling was the explanatory work illustrating how a well-intentioned law was watered down to the point of being largely ineffective. The breadth of this series, along with its impeccable writing and editing, merits first place in the Golden State Journalism Awards Public Health category.”
Adam Echelman won for education reporting.
Echelman was honored for his reporting, which found that community colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
After CalMatters reported on the rise in fraud last year, Republican U.S. Congress members called for a federal investigation, a Democratic state legislator launched a state audit and later, California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office approved a new ID verification policy for students. Colleges now are more vigilant about policing fraud, said Jory Hadsell, an executive in technology initiatives for the chancellor’s office, who pointed to better filtering practices and new software to detect fraud.
Judges wrote: “Adam Echelman’s reporting on financial fraud in California’s community college system highlights a critical issue for faculty and students with deep reporting, statistical evidence, crisp writing and, importantly, voices from those most affected. The articles aren’t just a collection of important information, they’re engaging narratives that underscore what’s at stake – not just for students, faculty and staff, but for taxpayers as well.”
