Staff at the Whidbey News-Times scooped up awards again this year in the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
The awards banquet was held Friday, with awards going to the best in news writing, design, editorials, sports, advertising and special sections in Washington state.
Reporter Ron Newberry won first place in the Best Personality Profile-Long category for the story, “Darst’s determination in full bloom after 80 years,” which profiled Earle Darst.
Newberry also earned three awards for photography. He won first place in General News photography for “raining trout.” He won second place in Color Feature for “Grace and Grit” and he took second in Color Pictorial for “Coupeville ferry in the morning.”
Sports editor Jim Waller won first place in the Best Sports Feature category for the story, “Father shares passion for sports with community.” He won third place in the Color Sport Photo-Feature for “Griffin Vollertsen fires.”
Editor and Publisher Keven Graves won first place for the editorial, “What other actions is Executive Session Mayor planning?” and second place for the editorial, “It’s time for Rose to turn over her keys.”
He also won second place in Best Front Page Design for the Aug. 30, 2014 edition.
Co-editor Jessie Stensland won third place in Investigative Reporting for “Discipline issues stir of turmoil at police department.” She won third place for Best Crime and Court story for “Prison time for disgraced attorney.”
Creative artist Jen Miller took first place in the Use of Clip Art category for an ad for Flyers Restaurant. She won both second and third place in Ad Campaign for Island Facial and Koetje Real Estate, respectively.
Photographer John Fisken won second in the Black-and-White Sports Photo category for “Mark Johnson blocks.” He won third place in Color Sports Photo for “Oak Harbor’s Mark Johnston.”
Whidbey News-Times staff and Pam Headridge earned third place for the Best Special Section Cover for the front of the 2015 Whidbey Almanac.
The staff also won second place in Best Editorial Pages and second place for Multiple Advertiser-one or two pages for “Tis the Season.”
