Business Section honored

Below is a memo from Editor Russ Stanton and Managing Editor John Arthur announcing the General Excellence award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers to the L.A. Times Business Section.

Congratulations to the Business Staff--and all who work to produce a compelling financial section each day--for winning the General Excellence award of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for newspapers with circulations higher than 325,000. After reviewing our sections last year, including coverage of Hollywood, healthcare, the mortgage meltdown and other topics, the judges singled us out for our enterprise:

"One of the few papers whose mix of stories revealed a strong commitment to investigative journalism. Its news and feature pieces were consistently well-written and packaged, but its enterprise work was what gave its coverage distinction."

Other winners were the New York Times, USA Today and The Arizona Republic.

-- Russ and John