Chronicle recognized by California publishers for homeless series
PIO FRANCO IERVOLINO (right) enjoys coffee at Peet’s on Larchmont Boulevard with, from left, Larchmont Chronicle writer Helene Seifer and Stories from the Frontline co-founder Marilyn Wells in July, 2022. Mr. Iervolino (aka Giorgio for decades on neighborhood streets) has been living in nearby senior housing for the past year.
The California News Publishers Association (founded in 1888) has recognized the Larchmont Chronicle and staff writer Helene Seifer as winners of the 2022 California Journalism Award.
Last month, Seifer’s two-year “Giorgio” homeless series was awarded the second place prize in the Public Service Journalism category for larger weekly and monthly newspapers. The first place award went to the San Francisco Examiner for a story about a troubled skilled nursing facility in that city.
The publishers association’s salute to Seifer and the Chronicle is for the in-depth investigative reporting that began in early 2021, when Seifer first introduced herself to the former Larchmont Boulevard regular, “Giorgio.” The man and his shopping cart were on the Boulevard almost every day. He spent about a decade of overnights on or near the bus bench on the north side of Beverly Boulevard at Rossmore Avenue.
Giorgio’s real name is Pio Franco Iervolino, and he now is a sheltered resident of a senior care facility near Olympic Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. Links to all of the stories (19 pages) are at tinyurl.com/5fbjf75f.
The judging journalist for the CNPA awards wrote of the series: “This extended occasional series about the homeless man ‘Giorgio’ (which turns out not to be his real name) is an involving and close-in look at one particular homeless person and how he interacts with society and agencies. The evolving articles bring what often seems a generic problem into the level of the personal, and brings some understanding and empathy to it.”
These days, Mr. Iervolino sometimes visits Larchmont for coffee with Seifer and his acquaintances at Peet’s. This summer, Seifer and the Chronicle will be following up on the care he now is receiving through the county’s conservatorship, now in its second year.
Category: News
