S-R Brings Home Awards For Writing, Reporting
The Spokesman-Review was the only Pacific Northwest metro newspaper to win two first-place honors Thursday as winners were announced in the 21st C.B. Blethen Memorial Awards.
The Spokesman-Review, competing in the over-50,000-circulation category against such papers as The Seattle Times and The Oregonian in Portland, won first place in the feature writing and enterprise reporting categories.
Reporter Carla K. Johnson won in feature writing for “Secrets, AIDS and Faith - The Story of Joyce Claypool.” The staff of the newspaper won the top award in enterprise reporting for “The Ragged Edge,” a study of the anti-government movement in the Pacific Northwest The Spokesman-Review staff also won a second place award in deadline reporting for its coverage of the shootings at the Ridpath Hotel.
Chris Peck, editor of The Spokesman-Review, said the Blethen awards are one way to measure the quality of work done by Northwest newspapers. “These awards tell me that our staff stacks up with the best journalists in the region,” Peck said. “I hope the awards also will serve as a reminder to our readers of the good work done by this newspaper.”
Other first-place winners in the over-50,000 circulation category were the staff of The Oregonian, deadline reporting, for flood coverage; Jim Hopkins and Elizabeth Ommachen of The Idaho Statesman in Boise, investigative reporting, for “The Boy Next Door, An All-American Murder”; and M.L. Lyke of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Debby Lowman Award, for “Confronting A Killer.”
Other second-place winners among the larger newspapers were Bill Dietrich of The Seattle Times, feature writing; Courtenay Thompson, Wade Nkrumah, Lisa Daniels and Robin Franzen, The Oregonian, enterprise reporting; Eric Nalder and Duff Wilson, The Seattle Times, investigative reporting; and the staff of The Seattle Times, the Debby Lowman Award for consumer affairs reporting.
In the under-50,000 circulation category, The Lewiston Morning Tribune and The Idaho Falls Post Register were jointly awarded first place in enterprise reporting for “Snake: The River Between Us.”
Daily newspapers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta that are members of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association are eligible for the contest, which is administered by the PNNA Foundation.
First-place winners receive $500, and second-place winners receive $250. Prize money is donated by The Seattle Times.
Judging was done by daily newspapers outside the region.