San Diego Metropolitan came home from the 2000 Society of Professional Journalists banquet with seven honors in the magazine category. Winning first place were Lynne Carrier and Neil Murray. Carrier won in the features category for her May 1999 cover story on UCSD's Mary Walshok. "A fascinating and well-researched profile of a woman who is making a serious difference in San Diego’s educational and cultural communities," the judges wrote. Murray earned first place in the opinion category for his "Dumbing Down Of Men" article that ran in June 1999. "It takes a brave man to tackle the subject of males disappearing from higher education, and Neil Murray does it with admirable restraint in 'The Dumbing Down of Men.' It would be easy to rant on or ridicule the subject matter but the writer does neither — instead choosing to elucidate with panache," the judges wrote. Also in the opinion category, Patrick Osio captured second with his The Connection column in the September 1999 issue that looked at the idea of legalizing guest workers from Mexico.

In the investigative/enterprise category, Gary Shaw received an honorable mention for overseeing the October 1999 supplement, "San Diego 92101: The Special Section." Tony Allison earned an honorable mention in the sports story or series arena for his February 1999 feature, "High Noon At La Costa," that examined the inner workings of a match play golf tournament with a $1 million first prize.

In the criticism category, second place went to John Willett for his "Love And The Arts" essay that appeared in the February 1999 issue.

Finally, in the overall online category for Web sites run by five or fewer people, Tim McClain was awarded honorable mention for overseeing the sandiegometro.com Web site.