IndieWire wins 2 LA Press Club Awards, including Ben Travers for TV Critic of the Year
The annual Los Angeles Press Club Awards honored several IndieWire staff members on Sunday night.
Among the honorees, IndieWire Assistant Television Director and Chief Television Critic Ben Travers was recognized as Television Critic of the Year at the ceremony, which took place June 25 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
The official commentary for Travers’ honor reads, “The reporter’s writing style includes his own television problems, much to the benefit of the reviews!”
Travers’ reviews for the series finale of “Atlanta,” the season one finale of “Yellowjackets,” and “Tuca & Bertie” were among select pieces recognized by the LA Press Club.
Sarah Shachat, Chris O’Falt and Zach Valenti also took first place in the Audio Journalism category for Best Entertainment Reporting with the podcast episode “Filmmaker Toolkit: Station Eleven Deep Dive Podcast.” Said the LA Press Club, “This ‘in-depth’ deftly uses multiple interviews and clips to learn the backstory of a single episode of television.”
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Overall, IndieWire also ranked second best website. Staff Christian Blauvelt and Jude Dry’s piece “Anne Heche was a Hollywood radical — and she deserved more credit for it” took third place in the Obituary and In Appreciation categories. “The Sound of ‘The Matrix’” by Shachat, O’Falt and Valenti also received third place coverage on Use of Sound.
The 2023 LA Press Club Awards was hosted by John Leguizamo and Spectrum News 1 host Gisele Fernandez, who received the President’s Award for Impact on Media. Fernandez’s award was presented by “Basic Instinct” icon Sharon Stone.
The Los Angeles Press Club is among the oldest organizations of journalists in the country, founded in 1913. The club established the NAEJ Awards in 2008 to “recognize and honor quality journalism in the fastest growing segment of the modern media revolution” , according to website. “It remains the only honor of its kind in the nation and has become a much-anticipated celebration for those who care about the entertainment industry and its artists.”