Newspaper nets a dozen awards

La Conner Weekly News picked up 12 awards, including five first place honors, in the state-wide contest sponsored by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Winners of this year’s contest, judged by members of the Arizona Newspaper Association, were announced Saturday in Chelan.

Once again, La Conner swept a category — color pictorial photograph — taking first, second and third place prizes. “La Conner must be a pretty place,” remarked the emcee at the awards banquet.

The last time La Conner swept a category was in 2010, when the newspaper scooped up all the awards in the government reporting category.

This year’s award winning journalists and photojournalists at La Conner Weekly News include several who took multiple honors. They are:

Amylynn Richards: First Place General News Photo for her “Visiting Dancer” photo at the Swinomish Days Powwow last year; and First Place Color Sports Photo – Action, a shot of the Braves playing in pouring rain.

Mickey Bambrick: First Place, Color Pictorial Photo, for a picture of the old Pleasant Ridge schoolhouse in the fall mist; Second Place, Best General Feature Story, Short, for her story “A convention for ‘kneady’ people,” about a bread making gathering; and Third Place, Best General Interest Column, for her weekly column, Life on the Ridge.

Don Coyote: Second Place, Color Pictorial Photo for “Winter Sunset,” the photo of the Rainbow Bridge that graces the cover of this year’s Visitor’s Guide (the audience gasped in awe when that photo was put up during the slideshow at the awards dinner); Second Place, Color Feature Photo for “Joy on the Beach,” the picture of Molly Donaldson’s poodle racing down the dog beach; and Third Place, Color Portrait for “Beauty in Bunches,” a portrait of a farmworker gathering tulips.

Nicole Jennings: First Place, Best News Story, Long, for “Horror on a sunny Thursday” the account of the man whose car fell into the water when the I-5 Skagit River Bridge collapsed last year.

Judy Booth: First Place, Best Business News Story, for her story on the Swinomish Fish Company.

Anna Ferdinand: Third Place, Best Comprehensive Coverage, for her series of stories on crowding at the Skagit County Jail.

Kirsten Morse: Third Place Color Pictorial Photo for “Last rays,” her photo of tulips in the field at sunset.

The winning photographs will be posted on the newspaper’s website today in a photo gallery titled “Award Winners.”

Also during the Washington Newspaper Publishers Asso-ciation’s annual convention, La Conner News editor Sandy Stokes was installed as a member of the association’s board of trustees and was one of three presenters on a well-attended panel on open government and investigative reporting.

The other presenters were former Skagit Valley Herald editor Don Nelson, who is now owner and publisher of the Methow Valley News, and attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard of the Allied Law Group, which specializes in open government.

The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association represents 130 newspapers in the state and holds its yearly Better Newspaper Contest to recognize the work of newspaper professionals in four circulation categories ranging from 2,500 to more than 25,000. La Conner is in the smallest circulation category.