The Methow Valley News collected 36 awards – including 14 first-place awards – for writing, photography, design, special publications, our website and social media coverage at the recent Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA) annual convention in Everett.
The contest time period was for newspapers and special publications published from April 2014 through March 2015. Awards are presented in four groups according to their circulation. The News is in group II (circulation of 2,751 to 5,000). Judging this year was by members of the Kansas Press Association.
The News won 20 awards last year.
WNPA is a newspaper trade organization which represents about 100 community newspapers in Washington state. News publisher and editor Don Nelson is first vice-president of WNPA for 2015-16.
Winners are (click the name of the winning entries to visit the online versions of winning entries, where available):
SPECIAL SECTION COVER, GROUPS 1&2
• Second place, Darla Hussey, Methow Home 2015
• Third place, Darla Hussey, Trial by Fire
TOPICAL/NON-TOURISM SPECIAL SECTION, GROUP 2
Judge’s comment: “First place by leaps and bounds. I cannot even describe in words how amazing this is. Depth of coverage. Human interest. Visual appeal. You’ve got it all. I loved how you put reader photos together in a gallery, how you combined poetry together, and how you pretty much did everything. Just amazing.”
LIFESTYLE/CULTURE SPECIAL SECTION, GROUP 2
• First place, Methow Home 2015
Judge’s comment: “Beautifully designed, exceptionally organized and, frankly, a joy to read. This section had it all: Content, design, organization, photography. This is how you do it.”
NEWS STORY/LONG, GROUPS 1&2
NEWS STORY/SHORT, GROUPS 1&2
• Third place, Don Nelson, “Community pitches in to help owner of slide-damaged Carlton home”
BREAKING NEWS STORY, ALL GROUPS
• First place, Ann McCreary and Marcy Stamper, “Firestorm rips through valley”
Judges comment: “Great coverage under extraordinary circumstances.”
ENVIRONMENTAL STORY, GROUP 2
• Third place, Ann McCreary, “Second spring” (starts on page 32)
BUSINESS NEWS STORY, GROUPS 1&2
• Second place, Ann McCreary, “A better bear trap”
EDUCATION STORY, GROUPS 1&2
• First place, Marcy Stamper, “ILC looks to broaden real-world learning”
GOVERNMENT REPORTING, GROUPS 1&2
• Third place, Marcy Stamper, “Plans to mend breaks in communications” (starts on page 44)
COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE, GROUPS 1&2
• Second place, Ann McCreary and Marcy Stamper, coverage of Carlton Complex Fire
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING, GROUP 2
• Second place, Marcy Stamper, “Kudos, criticisms and questions” (starts on page 9)
FEATURE STORY/SHORT, GROUP 2
• Second place, Laurelle Walsh, “Tall in the saddle”
PERSONALITY PROFILE/LONG, GROUP 2
• First place, Ann McCreary, “Heart and home”
PERSONALITY PROFILE/SHORT, GROUP 2
• Third place, Ann McCreary, “Coming back” (Starts on page 70)
ARTS COVERAGE, GROUPS 1&2
• Third place, Ann McCreary, “Hunt tries his hand at filming with locally cast Haiku”
FEATURE PAGE DESIGN, GROUP 2
• Third place, Darla Hussey, “Arts & Culture” (pictured, right)
FRONT PAGE DESIGN, GROUP 2
• First place, Darla Hussey, “Powerless” (pictured above)
SPORTS PERSONALITY PROFILE, GROUPS 1&2
• Second place, Mike Maltais, “Lucien Paz is Mr. Mutton Buster at Methow Valley Rodeo”
EDITORIAL, GROUP 2
• First place, Don Nelson, “A learning process”
EDITORIAL PAGES, GROUPS 1&2
• First place, staff
GENERAL INTEREST COLUMN, GROUPS 1&2
• Second place, Solveig Torvik, “Hello?”
• Third place, Don Nelson, “No Bad Days”
SPOT NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY, GROUPS 1&2
• First place, Darla Hussey, “Floods, slides cut swath of damage after torrential storm”
FEATURE PHOTO, GROUP 2
• Third place, Marcy Stamper, “The Jensen family came from shoreline last weekend …”
PHOTO ESSAY, GROUPS 1&2
• First place, Laurelle Walsh, Don Nelson, Ann McCreary, Marcy Stamper, “The week in pictures” (pictured right)
Judge’s comment: “Obvious winner here and perfect subject matter for a photo essay… great angles, great subject matter.”
SPORTS ACTION PHOTO, GROUP 2
• First place, freelancer Callie Fink, “Liberty Bell’s Meritt Fink …”
SPORTS FEATURE PHOTO, GROUPS 1&2
• Second place, freelancer Steve Mitchell, “Fat bikes are increasingly popular” (on page 8)
• Third place, Don Nelson, “On the rocks” (pictured on the page, right)
WEBSITE, ALL GROUPS
• Second place, staff. You are here 🙂
ONLINE PHOTO ESSAY, ALL GROUPS
• First place, Don Nelson, “Dog trapped in truck that rolled into Chewuch River”
• Second place, Don Nelson, “Community pitches in to help owners of slide-damaged home”
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA, ALL GROUPS
• First place, Darla Hussey, “Flooding takes out huge chunks of road”
• Second place, Don Nelson, “Verizon disaster recovery unit in Twisp”
