Newspaper earns honors from SPJ

“Beyond the veil,” The Spokesman-Review’s coverage last summer of the Fairy and Human Relations Congress near Twisp, Wash., took a top award in this year’s Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition presented by the Society of Professional Journalists. Reporter Kevin Graman won first place in Lifestyles Reporting for his story on the June gathering of 250 people in the Methow Valley. Graman and photographer Colin Mulvany also won second place in Online Video for “In the Realm of Fairies,” the video that accompanied the story. Jamie Tobias Neely, a former associate editor at The Spokesman-Review and an assistant professor of journalism at Eastern Washington University, won first place in Editorial and Commentary for three of her opinion columns published in the newspaper in 2009. Awards were announced Saturday night. The Spokesman-Review competes with the largest daily newspapers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Here are other awards The Spokesman-Review won: Second place, Page Design, Geoff Pinnock Second place, Sports Photography, Christopher Anderson, “Bat Shatter” Second place, Online Sports, Staff, “John Stockton, hall of famer” Third place, Spot News Reporting, Kevin Graman, Sara Leaming and Jody Lawrence-Turner, “Field trip for escapee flies in face of ruling” Third place, Online Video, Colin Mulvany and Kevin Graman, “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon” Third place, Best Parent Website, Spokesman.com Third place, General Excellence