Capital & Main Wins Five Best in Business Awards from National Journalism Contest

Capital & Main has won five Best in Business Awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, one of the nation’s top business journalism contests, for coverage of topics ranging from child farmworkers to climate change and the housing crisis.

The nonprofit news organization, in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times, won for government reporting, large division, for a two-part investigation by Robert J. Lopez, which found that California is failing to protect underage farmworkers who labor in harsh and dangerous conditions to provide Americans with fresh fruit and vegetables. The investigation, which was also produced in partnership with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism, featured photography by acclaimed photojournalist Barbara Davidson.

“This series on the state of California’s failure to enforce its own rules and protect child farmworkers is a powerful piece of accountability journalism,” the judges wrote in their comments. “A particularly powerful aspect of the series was a photo essay of portraits depicting children who worked in the fields. The series accomplished the important goal of alerting readers to a growing problem the government is failing to solve.”

The awards, which honor excellence in business journalism, were announced on March 25, with winners chosen from among 988 entries spanning 150 news organizations. In its announcement, SABEW highlighted Capital & Main as one of the small-sized newsrooms that won in multiple categories. 

Capital & Main’s other awards included the prize for government reporting, small division, for its investigation by Elena Bruess examining obstacles to addressing water contamination in small-town Texas.

“From her opening anecdote, we were engaged and ready to hear all about this community and its brown water problem,” the judges wrote. “Bruess’ on-the-ground reporting did a great job of humanizing the issue.”

The Best in Business Award for investing or markets reporting, small division, went to Dirty Money: Big Oil, Big Insurance and the Housing Crisis by Marcus Baram, which featured vivid and incisive reporting on the insurance industry’s investments in fossil fuels and the impacts being shouldered by residents across the country, from Louisiana’s Gulf Coast to California’s fire zones. 

Baram’s reporting, the judges wrote, “tackles a timely, compelling topic with depth and clarity” and “weaves expert perspectives with real people’s experiences to illuminate both industry implications and the impact on everyday Americans.”

Capital & Main also won for real estate reporting, small division, for Robin Urevich’s multipart investigative series Locked Out, which revealed how some of the largest Los Angeles landlords have been skirting anti-discrimination laws that are supposed to protect low-income tenants who rely on Section 8 federal housing assistance. 

“Capital & Main used an innovative approach to prove that some of the biggest landlords in Los Angeles made it virtually impossible for people to get an apartment in any of their buildings using Section 8 housing assistance,” the judges wrote. “Top-notch accountability reporting,” they added. 

Winning for commentary or opinion, small division, was Erin Aubry Kaplan’s column The Arc, which examines racial justice and the Black experience in Los Angeles and California. Aubry Kaplan’s coverage included reporting on the Black community of Altadena’s fight against erasure after a devastating wildfire and the significance of the Black-led boycott of retail giant Target. 

The judges said her pieces stood out for their perspective, empathy and clarity. “These columns not only show Ms. Kaplan’s journalistic talent but also show a knowledge of history and an understanding of how business, economics and politics shape a community,” they wrote.

Awardees will be honored during a reception on May 8 at SABEW’s annual conference in Philadelphia.