Variety received 12 honors at Sunday’s Los Angeles Press Club SoCal Journalism Awards, including three for senior film writer Ramin Setoodeh. Setoodeh won Entertainment Journalist of the Year, News Online for his exclusive about a “Today” production assistant’s secret relationship with Matt Lauer, and Entertainment News Feature for his story on “The Beguiled’s” Kirsten Dunst and Sofia Coppola.
The magazine took home nine more awards at the ceremony at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles for articles, artwork and digital content, including Website, Traditional News Organization for Variety.com. The Variety website is led by Variety.com editor Stuart Oldham.
Features editor Malina Saval received the Magazine Commentary award for her piece on how TV portrays autism, while Film/TV Personality Profile went to Executive Editor, TV, Debra Birnbaum for her report on “Leftovers” and “Fargo” star Carrie Coon. Senior editor Terry Flores won in the online Personality Profile category for her article on Minnie Mouse voice actress Russi Taylor.
Other repeat winners included chief film critic Owen Gleiberman, who swept the three categories for which he was nominated. Gleiberman took home Entertainment Commentary (Online) for his think piece on Donald Trump’s “pop-culture presidency;” Film/TV Appreciation for his piece on filmmaker Jonathan Demme; and Criticism on TV/Film, Reviews (all platforms) for his film review of “Roxanne Roxanne.”
In the art categories, Variety secured the In-House or Corporate Publication award for its special issue on the Harvey Weinstein scandal, as well as Illustration or Graphic, covers/reviews for “The Young Pope Review” by Chris Mihal, Allison Cressey, and Margherita Morotti.
Variety was nominated for a total of 36 awards. The ceremony also recognized the achievements of Daniel Pearl Award honoree Raif Badawi, President’s Award honoree Kimi Yoshino of the Los Angeles Times, Bill Rosenthal Public Service Award honoree Dolly Parton, and Joseph M. Quinn lifetime achievement award honoree Lester Holt. Holt closed out the night with a commentary on the importance of watchdog journalism.
“I like to be liked; you like to be liked; we all like to be liked,” Holt said. “But the truth is, what we do does not often make us popular. But remember this: You can blame the messenger, but as long as we hold fast to our values and responsibility, no one can ever silence the messenger.”
