S-R wins journalism honors

The Spokesman-Review news staff won 10 awards in the Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest, presented by the Society of Professional Journalists.

The newspaper competes among the largest news organizations in a five-state region. The awards were announced this past weekend.

The winners are:

• First place, best general news website, Spokesman.com.

• First place, Dan Pelle, Liz Kishimoto and Jody Lawrence-Turner, in the photo page, story or essay category, for coverage of Carissa Outen, the young woman who battled a rare form of cancer while finishing her senior year at North Central High School.

• First place, Alison Boggs, in social issues reporting, for a story on Paul Dunham, the Hayden man who wanted to remain at home as he neared the end of his life.

• First place, Kevin Graman, lifestyles reporting, for coverage of a Rainbow Family gathering last summer in the Colville National Forest.

• Second place, Becky Kramer, in environment and science reporting, for a story on efforts by the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho to save white sturgeon in the Kootenai River.

• Second place, Ryan Pitts, best web design, for The Spokesman-Review’s Election Center page.

• Third place, Shawn Vestal, general column.

• Third place, Dan Pelle, sports photography, for “Snowball’s Chance,” showing the Eastern Washington University football team celebrating its win in the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Series playoffs.

• Third place, staff, online special report/enterprise, “Flame and Ruin: The Fires of 1910.”

• Third place, general excellence, Daily Newspapers with Circulation above 65,000.