Taylor, Rinaldi honored with Press Club awards

SAN DIEGO – Two Village News affiliates were honored with awards at the San Diego Press Club’s 43rd Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards Banquet held Oct. 25 at Jacobs Center Market Creek. Nathalie Taylor won three first place, and two second place awards for articles, bringing her award total to 57 since 2004. Christine Rinaldi was presented with a third place award for photography.

Nathalie Taylor

In the highly competitive “Travel” category Taylor took first place with her story, “A Tale of Two Chinatowns: San Francisco and Toronto,” published in the Village News, Sept. 24, 2015. The story was written from a personal perspective as Taylor recalled her experiences in both cities. The two-page layout included her own photographs and many vivid descriptions.

An excerpt: “As night fell and cable car clangs resonated through Chinatown, the mist began to creep up from the bay like a silent dragon, edging through alleyways and around lampposts. I inhaled Chinatown’s intense scents, trying very hard to isolate, identify, and then memorize them.”

Because Taylor has the ability to make the reader visualize and almost taste the cuisine, her articles remain exceptional as evidenced by the fact that she took first place, as well as second place, in the “Reviews: Restaurant” category. The winning article titled, “At Rosas, carne asada is a bold choice!,” was published in the Village News, March 3, 2016.

An excerpt: “A few squeezes of lime made the flavors pop…it sparked memories of México. I could almost hear the Mariachi music or see the bold colors of Baja…”

Her second place “Reviews: Restaurant” story was, “Find a little bit of Italy at Fresco Grill,” published in the Village News on Feb. 11, 2016.

Taylor took first place in the “Reviews: Live Performance” category with her story titled, “Smokin’ drums and soaring strings – Kansas sets the fair on fire!”, a review of the rock band’s performance at the San Diego County Fair, which was published in the Village News on July 16, 2015.

An excerpt: …I remember writing “Dust in the Wind,” and “Kansas” on a scrap of torn paper after the DJ announced it. That was the day I became a Kansas enthusiast. It was 1979…Oh…and by the way…I still have that scrap of paper somewhere…”

Taylor also took second place in the same category with her story titled, “Grammy Award-winner Judy Collins gives stellar performance at San Diego County Fair,” published in the Village News on July 16, 2015.

Taylor, who holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, has been seated on the advisory board for Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts since 2011. In 2016, Taylor was designated a Press Club Honorary Committee member for the second year in a row. Prior to her print media work she was a staff writer for the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Deedee Corradini.

Christine Rinaldi

In the “Photography – Still: Photo Essay” category, Rinaldi was awarded third place for her photo essay titled, “Stagecoach Sunday offers fall activities, animal adventures, more for a worthy cause,” published in the Village News, Oct. 16, 2015.

Stagecoach Sunday is sponsored by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy to raise funds to help preserve open space locally. Palomares House was the venue for the 2015 event which was held was held on Oct. 4.

Rinaldi’s outstanding photos were a combination of still life (decorated pumpkins) and action shots, many of which included children. Rinaldi has a gift for capturing a mood or a moment, such as a group of dancing children, or a child holding a gopher snake and studying it.

She deftly caught the surprised look on the face of a woman who was holding a tarantula in her hand while surrounded by a group of onlookers. Another outstanding photo was of a girl concentrating hard on sprinkling glitter to decorate her pumpkin. Her look of rapt attention was captured perfectly by Rinaldi.

Rinaldi has worked for the Village News as an independent photojournalist since 2007. She earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of San Francisco in information systems management, after which she specialized in computer and data security, electronic voting systems, and healthcare computer systems. With an almost 35-year passion for photography, Rinaldi has taken numerous classes in the art.