Award-winning Los Angeles Times staff writer Kurt Streeter told Chronicle classes about his writing process and career in journalism on Tuesday.

Streeter, who has been working at the LA Times since 1998, has interviewed figures such as Kobe Bryant and Rodney King, who became nationally known after being brutally beaten by members of the Los Angeles Police Department, the event that is largely credited as being the catalyst to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Streeter also recently interviewed Michael Sheng ’14, Sam Sachs ’14, Eric Loeb ’14, varsity basketball coach Greg Hilliard and President Thomas Hudnut for an article entitled ‘2 L.A. high schools, 2 views of Jason Collins’, detailing different reactions of high school students about professional basketball player Jason Collins’ ’97 decision to come out as gay.

“The best thing about this job is the diversity of experiences you get,” Streeter said.

Streeter’s five-part narrative about a female boxer from East Los Angeles and her relationship with her father, a previous gang member, won a 2005 Associated Press News Editors award. That story, along with a Column One about an elderly boxing timekeeper and his memories, was included in the 2006 edition of Best American Sports Writing, according to his bio on the L.A. Times website.

“You have to believe that there has to be a place for good story-telling,” Streeter said. “There’s an innate need in all of us to want stories, to want information. You don’t go into journalism to get rich, you do it for the love of it.”