From the editor’s desk
Published 1:00 am Monday, October 10, 2022
Winning awards is nothing new for the Chinook Observer; we’re up to around 500 in the past 30 years. But this part of October is always a time of some anxiety as we await results of the Better Newspaper Contest, our state press association’s annual celebration of journalistic achievements.
At this past Saturday’s awards in Bellingham, we were gratified by our third outright General Excellence win in a row. This consistency is something we strive for. We get 52 chances a year to provide readers with a package of interesting local content. We want every issue to count — to be worth your time and money.
What makes me even happier this year was the outstanding recognition conferred on Luke Whittaker and Patrick Webb. Luke was named Washington state Photographer of Year, while Patrick was honored as the state’s best feature writer and the best sports writer. Both are remarkably talented men and I’m incredibly fortunate to work with them.
In fact, being able to spot and retain talented people may be my only actual talent. Although anyone can leave a job anytime, I hope I get to work with Patrick and Luke for many more years.
While they obviously are key to our General Excellence wins, each edition of the Observer also requires the equally valued contributions of many other talented people. In particular, Brandon Cline and Jeff Clemens — a staffer and freelancer — are essential to what we usually call “hard news” — the headline-making stories about what is working and not working in our local communities.
In addition to those named above, 2021-22 winning team members — staff, columnists, freelance contributors and designers — included Kelly Beach, Marlene Quillin, Kristin Inskeep, Don Jenkins, Cate Gable, David Campiche, Leisa Jennings, Madeline Kalbach, Susan Stauffer, Sydney Stevens, Jane Webb, Bonnie Cozby, Randy Wrighthouse, Matthew Vann, Suzanne Luttrell, Andrew Renwick, John Bruijn, Kevin Weidow, Cory McKeown, Anne Singer, and all of our advertisers, letter writers and readers.
An online slide show of the Saturday awards is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7B1JXyMsw
A couple of my favorite winning 2021-22 entries:
