A memorable night for the Journal staff

Justin Johnson | Oct 13, 20220

The Washington Newspaper Publisher’s Association had its annual convention and awards gala this past weekend in Bellingham.

The Journal captured 20 awards, including a second-place finish in General Excellence, which judges newspapers on their overall quality.

Additionally, Journal staff won awards for advertising, youth-oriented content, writing and photography.

One particular award stood out for me.

In Topical Columns, Mark Woytowich’s “On The Trail” outdoors column captured third place.

Woytowich died of heart attack May 6, and my last conversation with him was about his submission for this very award.

“I am not the best person to select my own columns for judgment. Also, I don’t care too much about awards. The time spent overlooking my work is not productive. It is like putting on a necktie that doesn’t fit. Thanks for the offer, however. You may submit any or none on my behalf.”

That was his last email to me, and after learning of his passing I went back and looked at all of his submissions for the time period of the contest, settling on three.

The topics were aging, facing his fear of guns and feting a pair of county residents who cleaned up roadside litter.

I felt they best showcased his work and I felt glad that the judges agreed.

Reporter Gordon Weeks captured first-place awards for his feature story on a county resident who turned 100 on Valentine’s Day 2021 and an education story on the former superintendent of Pioneer School District.

He won awards in COVID-19 Coverage, History Feature Story, Education Story and a Color Pictorial photo.

Reporter Matt Baide took home third-place honors in the Photographer of the Year competition and won an award in Animal Feature Stories.

Columnist Kirk Ericson’s These Times won second place in General Interest Columns.

Movie reviewer Kirk Boxleitner won first place in Art Reviews for his review of regionally-produced ‘Hunting Bigfoot.’

Our advertising representitive, Theresa Murray, won three ad awards in Single Adveriser — 1/2 page or larger, Color Ad — smaller than 1/2 page and Branding Ad.

Ad designer Kim Fowler won first place in Newspaper House Ad and the Journal’s Anniversary Salute was second in Topical special sections.

Office manager Dave Pierik won second place in Youth Content for his regular Crafty Time content.

I was honored as the runner-up for Sports Writer of the Year and picked up an award for Sports Feature Photo.

A big thank you to every member of the Journal staff, our contibuters and our drivers. We don’t win these awards in a vacuum. We win because of good old-fashioned hard work by every member of our team.

I’d also like to offer a heartfelt thank you to YOU, our readers, because without you subscribing or buying our newspaper from the racks every week, none of this would be possible. We’re proud to serve this community week in and week out.