San José Spotlight wins 5 state journalism awards

San José Spotlight is taking home five wins in a statewide journalism contest.

The five awards are from the 2025 California Journalism Awards, an annual competition held by the California News Publishers Association. The contest highlights the best print and digital reporting and photography statewide. Print and digital news organizations compete in divisions based on size and circulation. San José Spotlight competed in a division for publications with a circulation of 200,000 to 299,000 unique monthly visitors.

“We’re thankful to be recognized and grateful to the community that trusts us to tell its stories,” Josh Barousse, co-founder and co-CEO of San José Spotlight, said. “These awards belong to our entire newsroom, whose commitment to thoughtful, accurate and meaningful local journalism is driven by serving our readers and strengthening our community.”

San José Spotlight placed second in In-Depth Reporting for reporting on health and safety issues at a San Jose homeless housing site.

Branham Lane, the city’s first multistory, modular housing site, was hailed as an inexpensive, cutting-edge solution to end homelessness when it opened in February 2025. But within months, residents launched complaints — and one lawsuit — about mold contamination, poor ventilation, water damage and shower benches that weren’t properly installed and led to injury.

Residents living there later told San José Spotlight about dysfunction at the site, including a worker they alleged was dealing drugs. After that reporting, police arrested a Branham Lane worker on drug charges, which led the city to end its contract with LifeMoves, the nonprofit service provider overseeing the site. The nonprofit’s CEO stepped down soon after.

“The residents at the Branham Lane shelter deserve better conditions and treatment,” San José Spotlight reporter Joyce Chu said. “I’m honored to have shone a spotlight on this facility to hold all those involved accountable, including nonprofit shelter operator LifeMoves, developer of the site DevCon and San Jose city officials.”

San José Spotlight also placed second in Homelessness Reporting for its exclusive reporting in 2025 about Santa Clara County having one shelter bed for every three homeless people. There are 10,711 homeless people in the county, according to a 2025 survey.

This news organization compiled data based on year-round shelters that provide temporary beds, bathrooms and services, such as case management. The definition includes “interim housing,” “emergency housing,” “transitional housing” and “emergency shelters.” The definition doesn’t apply to safe parking sites, seasonal overnight warming shelters and confidential shelters, such as domestic violence or youth shelters.

San José Spotlight received the third place award in Investigative Reporting for a series of stories about the alleged use of racial slurs by city officials in a group chat.

Law enforcement sources in 2025 told this news organization that a group of San Jose politicians participated in an inflammatory text thread which included use of racial slurs and derogatory remarks while discussing city meetings and public business. Sources said the messages were discovered when authorities seized the phone of former Councilmember Omar Torres during an investigation related to child sex crimes. Last year, a judge sentenced Torres to 18 years in prison.

The group text thread was named “Tammany Hall,” after a powerful political machine that dominated New York state politics in the 1800s. The messages allegedly included the n-word and referred to Mexicans as “scraps,” a slang term used to refer to Southern California gang members. The participants of the text thread allegedly made demeaning comments about certain neighborhoods and schools in low-income areas.

San José Spotlight is suing the city and San Jose Police Department after they repeatedly refused to release the messages. The lawsuit is ongoing.

This news organization scored another third place win in the Coverage of Youth and Education category, for its reporting on alleged misuse of school funds in East San Jose — and the firing of a school leader who questioned the expenses.

In July 2025, the Alum Rock Union School District board of trustees voted to fire then-Superintendent German Cereda, less than a year after he was hired following the firing of his predecessor in 2024.

Cerda alleged he was fired for questioning expenses and confronting board members for missing documentation related to money paid back by the district. The reimbursements didn’t sit well with him, given the East San Jose school district faced a $20 million budget deficit after the loss of COVID funds and a drop in enrollment from more than 10,000 students in 2015-16 to a projected 7,270 students in 2024-25. The district closed six schools to help address the deficit.

Cerda’s claims put attention on Board Vice President Andres Quintero, who received more than $22,000 in reimbursements from the district for an online doctorate program from the University of the Cumberlands. Alum Rock parents called on the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to investigate and said Quintero, who is an adjunct professor at Evergreen Valley College, should either return the funds or resign.

The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team completed its audit of Alum Rock Union School District following a “comprehensive review” of all reimbursements. The report concluded there is insufficient evidence to indicate fraud, misappropriation of funds or other illegal fiscal practices.

San José Spotlight also received a fifth place award in the Public Service Journalism category for an article on what residents can do if stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

While Santa Clara County has not seen mass raids like those in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the region has seen targeted arrests of more than 200 people, according to immigration advocates. There is also a planned ICE facility in South County just outside Gilroy. Santa Clara County and the state are suing to stop the project.