The Ark's Francisco Martinez wins national Rookie of the Year; paper wins 48 state, national awards

The Ark has won 48 total awards in the National Newspaper Association’s and California News Publishers Association’s annual journalism contests — a new record for the paper — including national Rookie of the Year for Tiburon beat reporter Francisco Martinez.

Martinez, a Mill Valley resident who celebrated his one-year anniversary with The Ark on July 11, is a 2021 Cal Poly grad who got his start as anchor and producer of the daily newscast on student-run KCPR-FM, winning best newscast for 2018-2019. He had a three-month stint as an editorial intern at alternative weekly New Times San Luis Obispo in spring 2020 and was a reporter, announcer and music host for KCBX, also in San Luis Obispo, from January 2021 to June 2022.

The National Newspaper Association, founded in 1885, has more than 2,200 member community newspapers, making it the largest and one of the oldest newspaper trade associations in the country. Its Rookie of the Year honor was for all member nondaily publications, with judges calling Martinez’s articles “well written, compelling and easy to read.”

To qualify for the award, reporters had to be in the first 18 months of their first newspaper job.

Martinez won 10 other awards in the national and state competitions for The Ark’s coverage of the Tiburon Peninsula in 2023.

Winners of the national 2024 Better Newspapers Contest were announced July 15, with The Ark generally competing against other nondaily papers with a circulation of 2,000-3,999. The Ark, which won 32 national awards, has circulation of about 2,400, with winners to be recognized at the 138th annual conference Sept. 27 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Meanwhile, winners of the 2023 California Journalism Awards were announced July 13 at the California News Publishers Association’s annual conference in Los Angeles, with The Ark generally competing against nondaily papers with a circulation of less than 4,300. However, this year, the association combined the category with online-only publications of up to 199,000 unique visitors, or more than 20 times The Ark’s scope. The paper won 16 state awards.

For reporting, Assistant Editor Emily Lavin won first and second place in nationals for best business story for her coverage of Marin Home Care being named the Tiburon Peninsula Chamber of Commerce’s business of the year and for the Tiburon Laundromat closing after more than 30 years. In the state competition for business reporting, Martinez won fourth in The Ark's division, first among just the print papers of similar size, for his coverage of Servino Ristorante reopening at its new home on Ark Row, while contributor Lisa Amin Gulezian won fifth, or second among print papers, for her article on Tia Lupita founder Hector Saldivar of Tiburon winning a deal on TV’s “Shark Tank.”

For best localized national news story, Executive Editor Kevin Hessel won first place in nationals for his article on Tiburon seeing the lowest levels of crime in four decades and third place for his article about a racist and antisemitic Zoom-bombing incident at a Tiburon Town Council meeting.

Hessel, along with Martinez and former reporters Deirdre McCrohan, Katherine Martine and Hemananthani Sivanandam, won second place in nationals for local government reporting for a series of articles on housing issues facing Tiburon and Belvedere. They also won third place in state, first among print papers, for housing and land-use reporting.

Meanwhile, Martine won fifth in state, second among print publications, for best coverage of local government for her article on a Belvedere coyote forum, and McCrohan won fifth in state, second among print papers, for breaking news coverage of storms soaking the Tiburon Peninsula.

For best investigative and depth reporting, Martine and Hessel won second in nationals for their coverage of the promotion of Michelle Jean from Tiburon police captain to chief. Martinez and Hessel won third in nationals for their report on Paradise Cay residents installing private license-plate-reading cameras; the article won first among all non-dailies in the state competition for technology reporting.

For sports stories, Martinez won second in nationals for his article on Tiburon’s Polo Cowan winning the world masters tennis tournament and third for his coverage of the Tiburon Challenger tennis tournament. Martinez also won third in nationals for best profile feature, as well as third in nationals and fifth in state for best sports feature story, for his article about now-late Strawberry tennis legend Vic Seixas turning 100 years old.

McCrohan won second in nationals for best profile feature for her article about Tiburon resident Ellen Killebrew cementing her legacy as a pioneer among women in medicine, while Lavin won an honorable mention in nationals for best nonprofile feature for her story about Belvedere resident Sally Newson’s Karma Club at Northgate mall. Lavin won second in state, first among print publications, for best profile on former resident Adam Bessie’s graphic novel about teaching during the pandemic while he was battling cancer.

Lavin also won fifth place, first among newspapers, for coverage of education for her article on the design of new playgrounds at Reed Elementary School District being exclusionary for people with disabilities.

Contributor Gretchen Lang won fifth place in state for best writing, second among print publications, for an article on the Richardson Bay Audubon Center’s migratory bird tracker.

The Ark also won first and second place in nationals for best special section for its spring and fall Home sections, respectively; third place in nationals among all newspapers for best family, living and living pages with its ArkBeat section; and second in state for all newspapers for its community calendar, produced by Diana Goodman.

For best review, contributing writer Michele Caprario won third place among all dailies and non-dailies for her review of “Odyssey” at the Marin Theatre Co. Contributor Dave Gotz won third place for his History Scrapbook column.

In photography, contributor Frank Fennema won first place in both state and nationals for news photo for his image of the Blue Angels flying over Tiburon, as well as first place for sports photo for his snap of Tiburon Challenger singles tennis champion Zach Svajda.

Late contributing photographer Elliot Karlan won second place for his photo of the Tiburon Peninsula Little League All-Stars celebrating their third consecutive District 3 championship.

For design, Hessel won national first, second and third place for front page design and state third, fourth and fifth for inside page design; state first among all nondaily papers for special-section cover design; national first, second and third place for best informational graphic for a map of the Belvedere Challenge Fun Run, charts on Tiburon crime statistics and a map that tracked a mountain lion's route in and out of Tiburon; and national third place for best-use of a double truck — a two-page spread — for the cookbooks pages in the spring Home special section.

For advertising, The Ark won first place at nationals for best promotional special section for its Holiday Guide, with Accounts Manager Leigh Pagan and Hessel winning third among all papers for best public notices and Pagan winning an honorable mention among all papers for classifieds.

Support local journalism and SUBSCRIBE NOW for home delivery and access to the digital replica.

Comment on this article on Nextdoor.