Best of the West announced the results of its 2011 journalism contest and we have some local winners here in SoCal. Some highlights: No surprise, OC Weekly‘s Gustavo Arellano picked up second place in the special topic column writing category for his “¡Ask a Mexican!” columns.

The LA Times Francine Orr and Don Kelsen were first place winners for multimedia storytelling for their heartbreaking video on baby Dylan Catania and his doctors’ efforts to sever half his brain to save his life. The Times’ Sachi Cunningham and Jeff Amlotte, meanwhile, won third place for video storytelling for their look at the shrimping industry in  New Orleans in the wake of the Gulf oil spill.

LA Weekly‘s Charlotte Hsue earned third place for long form feature writing for her piece on obsessive self-documentor Herman Atkins. Beth Barrett also won third place for the LA Weekly in the business reporting cateogry for her piece the “questionable actions of con-man-turned-pastor Barry Minkow.”

Full list of winners here.