Carmen Kohlruss
Carmen is into storytelling that connects people and initiates exploration. A self-proclaimed Renaissance woman of news, her journalism takes her everywhere, from writing narrative features that focus on our shared humanity to spotlighting problems by digging into challenging issues. A love of nature and discovery inspires her enthusiastic travels and obsessive writing + research — compelled to take on anything in pursuit of bringing the most pertinent information to light in a way that resonates.
Carmen worked as a staff reporter and columnist for 14 years (at The Fresno Bee, Sierra Star, and Montana Kaimin) before recently deciding to resign to take up the freelance writing dream, pursuing more of the storytelling she loves as a freelancer. Career highlights include serving in The Bee's features department, where she had a human-interest column, Heart in the San Joaquin, and being the McClatchy Company’s go-to reporter for news about Yosemite National Park and surrounding areas.
Carmen is based in the heart of California, in the central San Joaquin Valley, and grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. At age 17, she headed north in search of a good journalism school + more mountains and adventure, what she found as a print journalism major at the University of Montana, Missoula. Carmen returned to California four years later to again live and write near her favorite place, Yosemite, where she’s been telling stories since childhood.
Her storytelling is greatly enhanced by her favorite co-creator, Craig Kohlruss, a Fresno Bee staff photojournalist, videographer and drone pilot who also works as a freelancer. The duo became a CK team in 2021, when Carmen changed her byline from Carmen George to Carmen Kohlruss after they were married. She loves this wild, wonderful world dearly!
JOURNALISM AWARDS
Her stories have been recognized by:
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California News Publishers Association’s California Journalism Awards
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McClatchy President’s Awards
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Native American Journalists Association’s National Native Media Awards
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Society of Environmental Journalists’ Awards for Reporting on the Environment
Carmen received several dozen awards in a wide range of categories, including:
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Writing
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Profiles
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Features
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News
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General interest column writing
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Environmental reporting
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Wildfire features
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Land-use reporting
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Public service journalism
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Sports features
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Coverage of protests and racial justice-news or feature stories
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Investigative reporting
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Coverage of youth and education
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Coverage of local government
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Coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic-profiles
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Breaking news
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Photography
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Page layout and design
Newsrooms that Carmen worked in were recognized with coveted General Excellence awards more than half a dozen times while she was on staff.
BEST OF THE WEST
Best of the West — a contest that draws entries from newspapers, magazines and online publications from the Rockies to Alaska and Hawaii, and does not divide categories by a publication’s circulation size — awarded Carmen second place in the category of general interest column writing.
Best of the West said Carmen “paints portraits of people with words. Through well-placed quotes and rich descriptions, she reveals subtleties of human behavior. Lovely prose and writing.” The contest honored her "Heart in the San Joaquin" columns. Her three entries told the stories of a double-amputee Marine cycling across America, a 102-year-old Fresno benefactor who was friends with writer William Saroyan, and inmates who train shelter dogs.
