Julia Scott, who covers the Coastside for the County Times, received an award as “Outstanding Emerging Journalist of the Year” from the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Her reporting, according to the award…
displays a solid grasp of one of the most crucial issues in the Bay Area: water. Her reporting is thorough, her writing clear and concise as she explains the sometimes complex science and bureaucratic processes involved in monitoring and protecting the region’s most valuable resource. In a story titled “Troubled Waters” she explores the sources of the waste that contaminate a well-known Pacifica creek, and shows that there are no simple answers for a community trying to clean up the waters that eventually flow into the ocean. Similarly she reported on the wide range of pharmaceutical drugs that people have flushed into the Bay. Scott examines the complicated identification, monitoring and regulatory issues that stand in the way of removing these substances for the protection of humans and wildlife. Her coverage has provided important contributions to the public discussion of some of our most pressing environmental and public health issues.
I link to her stories frequently from Coastsider, and I’ve always found her work to be thoughtful, fair, thorough, and informative. We’ve very lucky to have Julia Scott covering the Coastside.