Anne Marie Panoringan and Anne Valdespino Win a 1st Place California Journalism Award

Drinks from Vacation Bar in Santa Ana. Inset, Anne Valdespino, left, and Anne Marie Panoringan. Drinks photo courtesy of Vacation Bar

---

Culture OC writers Anne Marie Panoringan and Anne Valdespino were announced as the 1st place winners in the Food Writing/Reporting category at the 2023 California Journalism Awards this past Saturday, July 13.

The awards gala, hosted by the California News Publishers Association were handed out at at ceremony at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles and marked the return of this ceremony as a live event. The last live gala was held before the pandemic in 2019.

Panoringan and Valdespino received this award for their joint writing on the following stories:

• "Great Places for Cocktails in Orange County, Part 1: New Classics"

• "Great Places for Cocktails in Orange County, Part 2: More New Classics"

• "Great Places for Cocktails in Orange County, Part 3: New (and Newish) Cocktail Programs"