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Chronicle named California’s best large newspaper in contest

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Jewelle Gomez, left, and Diane Sabin, right, are joyous In San Francisco's City Hall after the Supreme Court decided that gays and lesbians have the constitutional right to marry nationwide on Friday, June 26, 2015. Gomez and Sabin were married in 2008 after being plaintiffs in the original 2004 lawsuit when gay marriages were ruled invalid.
Jewelle Gomez, left, and Diane Sabin, right, are joyous In San Francisco's City Hall after the Supreme Court decided that gays and lesbians have the constitutional right to marry nationwide on Friday, June 26, 2015. Gomez and Sabin were married in 2008 after being plaintiffs in the original 2004 lawsuit when gay marriages were ruled invalid.Tim Hussin/Special to The Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle was named the state’s best large newspaper Saturday in a contest held by the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Besides the general excellence prize, The Chronicle won first-place awards for its sports and style sections, stories on the San Francisco schools’ failed desegregation efforts, the plight of farm laborers in Mendota (Fresno County), its Chronicle of a Great City magazine, and a photo essay on the impact of the refugee crisis in Lesbos, Greece.

“To be named as the best newspaper is incredibly gratifying and speaks to our entire company’s dedication to giving readers the best journalism possible on as many platforms as possible,” said Audrey Cooper, the paper’s editor in chief. “In many ways we’ve already exceeded last year’s accomplishments because we are constantly pushing for more enterprising coverage.”

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The Chronicle also brought home several second-place awards, including those for arts and entertainment coverage, columns, sports game story, breaking news, feature photo and special sports section and the SFChronicle.com website.

The Chronicle’s multimedia series “Living Together, Learning Apart: Is Desegregation Dead?” won first prize in the education category. The series examined six decades of school enrollment and census data to show that San Francisco schools are more segregated than they were in the 1970s. The project was reported by Jill Tucker, Heather Knight, Greta Kaul and C.W. Nevius.

The feature story “Without water, work or homes: Farm laborers displaced by drought” won first place for best agricultural reporting. The article by Marissa Lang and photographs by Leah Millis highlighted the plight of farmworkers in the Central Valley, some of whom have relocated to shanties in a dried-up irrigation ditch because of the lack of work.

The Chronicle of a Great City magazine won first place for special sections.

Harrowing photos of the refugee crisis in Greece won first prize for photo essay. Paula Bronstein, a freelance photographer in Bangkok, took the pictures.

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Second-place prizes went to Rusty Simmons for his story on the Warriors’ championship game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Nevius for his tri-weekly columns, and Tim Hussin’s photo of City Hall on the day the Supreme Court upheld the right to same-sex marriage.

The Chronicle also won second place in the breaking news category for its coverage of the Berkeley balcony collapse that killed six college students from Ireland.

The large newspapers category includes papers with daily circulations of more than 150,000.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen

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Emily Green covers San Francisco City Hall, focusing on the mayor’s office and the Board of Supervisors. Previously, Emily covered the California Supreme Court for the Daily Journal, a legal affairs publication, and freelanced stories for National Public Radio. An Atlanta native, Emily spent a year reporting in the Philippines on a Fulbright Fellowship. She previously lived and worked in Chile for a year. Emily is interested in justice related issues, the ins and outs of San Francisco politics and the city's life at large.