Immigration was a dominant theme for journalism awards presented on Thursday by the Sab Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
Journalist Kate Morrissey, who has covered immigration issues in the San Diego-Tijuana border region since 2016, was honored with the SPJ Journalist of the Year award at the ceremony at the Riverwalk Golf Club in Mission Valley.
Other nominees included Katie Hyson, a racial justice and social equity reporter with KPBS, and Austin Grabish, an investigative reporter with KGTV-TV ABC 10News.
SPJ said Morrissey, known nationally for her work on the U.S. asylum system and border policies, focuses on conditions in immigration custody, immigration arrests in official spaces and incidents involving both federal immigration officials and local police.
Her recent stories have been published by Voice of San Diego, Capital & Main, a left-leaning progressive news outlet in its editorial perspective, and Daylight San Diego, a news site Morrissey co-founded in 2024.
Morrissey said Daylight San Diego, which began publishing in April 2025, is a startup nonprofit newsroom dedicated to providing news and information for San Diego’s diverse communities.
She also writes a weekly roundup of immigration news from across the country that publishes both on Daylight San Diego and on the Substack newsletter “Beyond the Border News.”
“I’m feeling very humbled, very grateful and very encouraged to keep going with my work at Daylight San Diego,” Morrissey told Times of San Diego. “I think this award affirms the importance of our mission to provide journalism for San Diego’s diverse communities, not just about them. And I will continue to use that human-centered approach in my immigration coverage. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you especially to everyone who has trusted me with their stories. My articles would be nothing without the people in them.”
Other immigration Morrissey stories that received SPJ awards included:
Business writing category, “ICE raids push workers into the shadows, disrupting the economy.”
Criminal justice category, “International tribunal condemns U.S. border officials for torturing, killing immigrant.”
Feature writing category, “`I have so much fear that they’re going to torture me.’”
Government category, “Trump’s nominee to head Customs and Border Protection could be implicated in alleged cover-up.”
Health category, “With a jar of blood as evidence, detained man tells immigration judge ‘I am dying little by little.’”
Multicultural category, “Under Trump, history is poised to repeat itself.”
Daily news writing category, “People in ICE custody face invasive strip searches after visits with loved ones.”
Non-daily news writing category, “San Diego ICE arrests expand to green card appointments.”
Other SPJ journalism awards presented for immigration-related reporting included:
Roberto Camacho’s December 2025 Times of San Diego story, “How a TikToker’s ICE patrol spiraled into a violent confrontation at a trolley stop” won first place in the Daily Reporting and Writing — News Story category. Camacho also won first place in the daily Education Story category for his April 2025 piece on a UC San Diego student’s op-ed and placed second in the daily Health Story category for a September 2025 story on a San Diego nurse who volunteered in Gaza. His story on volunteer patrols alerting San Diegans against ICE actions for Bolts received the Distinguished Coverage award on immigration.
Video political category, “North County market owner gets temporary reprieve in immigration court,” KPBS.
Breaking news category, “ICE arrests several workers from South Park restaurant,” KPBS.
Breaking news category, “ICE detains Ukrainian wife of U.S. citizen following green card interview,” KPBS.
Special SPJ awards that were presented include:
JW August’s June 2025 Times of San Diego story on flaws in the San Diego Police Department’s complaint portal won the Neil Morgan Community Impact Award. August also won third place in four Daily Reporting and Writing categories: Health and Series for Times of San Diego; and Government and Sports for KPBS.
Diversity Award: The Southwestern College Sun newspaper.
Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism: “How vermin make life and business miserable for Coronado restaurateurs,” the Coronado News.
Gloria Penner Award for Political Affairs Reporting: “Investigating organized labor in San Diego County,” inewsource.
First Amendment Award: “City of San Diego paid law firm $37K to probe allegations made against police chief,” KGTV 10News.
James Julian Memorial Award, Community Service Story, “Community loves like Jesus,” The Southern Cross.
Herbert Lockwood “Woody” Award, Humor Writing, “The changing shape of San Diego’s Zonie-Hate,” Voice of San Diego.
A complete of list of award winners can be viewed at https://spjsandiego.org/.
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Team Lewis will help struggling marketing agencies – for a price
Team Lewis, a global communications agency with an office in San Diego, has launched Catalyst, a new service and fund specifically designed to help agencies struggling to cope with challenging market conditions.
A statement said the multi-million-dollar Catalyst fund will take majority and minority equity stakes as a way to support marketing and communications agencies under financial pressure. Services will include expertise, technology, legal and financial assistance. In most instances, an initial assessment response will be made within 48 hours. All requests will be treated confidentially.
“Catalyst is significant because it addresses a real gap in the market: agencies don’t just need capital when conditions tighten, they need speed, discretion, and practical operational support to protect talent and client momentum before problems become existential,” a statement said.
“The combined challenge of shrinking budgets, changing technology and rising staff costs have created the perfect storm for many agencies,” said Yvonne van Bokhoven, Team Lewis CEO. “The recent wave of bankruptcies that we’ve seen point to the challenging conditions of our times. However, we often see agencies coming to us when it’s too late.
“We see many promising agencies, sometimes with innovations or a talented team that fail unnecessarily. This could be because they have too much debt, had an onerous lease or shareholders with short-term goals. We’re also happy to offer our skills to help re-launch holding company brands that want to break away.”
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in London, Team Lewis operates 27 offices throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America. Team Lewis offices in the U.S. are located in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and San Diego.
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UC San Diego Athletics wins marketing awards
The UC San Diego athletics department reports it recently received six “Best of” marketing awards from the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA).
According to Todd Greenbaum, the university’s associate athletic director for marketing and NIL strategy, UCSD captured two Gold awards for ticket revenue campaign and fundraising campaign. The ticket revenue entry consisted of an offer to purchase tickets to either of the women’s basketball season-ending games in March 2026 and receive free San Diego Zoo admission.
UCSD said it also received Silver honors in the categories of affinity group marketing, digital engagement and quick-sales campaign. Bronze honors were awarded for new revenue generating idea.
“We are honored to be recognized for our achievements during the 2025-26 academic year,” said Greenbaum, “Receiving six NACMA Best Of Awards, including four in revenue generation categories, is a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to the momentum our department continues to build.
“These honors demonstrate our commitment to innovation and excellence while highlighting the impact our team is making in driving revenue, strengthening our brand, and growing our fan base. I am so proud of each member of our marketing team for their creativity, passion and dedication, which continue to elevate UC San Diego Athletics.”
After two decades in NCAA Division II, UCSD’s intercollegiate athletics program joined the Division I Big West Conference in 2020. The Tritons, who field programs in 24 sports, earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during their time in Divisions II and III. Last year, the school announced that 14 of those programs will move to the West Coast Conference — home of their crosstown rivals the University of San Diego — beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly in Times of San Diego.